GUANGDONG (CHINA), JUN 16 (PTI): Former champions India suffered a narrow defeat to China ‘B’ in their opening match of the World Team Snooker Championship here on Tuesday.
The 2-3 loss to the hosts in the three-team Group ‘B’ leaves India with a must-win game against Turkey on Wednesday.
With the match poised on a knife’s edge at 2-2, Aditya Mehta, who gave India the opening frame, frittered away the advantage and allowed the formidable Zhou Jinhao to help the hosts prevail in a thriller.
Down 20-22, Jinhao capitalized on Mehta’s poor safety shot with a crucial break of 23.
The Chinese cueist resorted to safety after taking the penultimate red. After a bit of a cat-and-mouse game, the Indian missed a long red and sold it to the top left-hand pocket.
The promising Jinhao took the generous offering gleefully to seal the frame and match for China ‘B’, who had earlier outclassed Turkey 3-0.
Earlier, Jinhao had defeated Pankaj Advani with a gritty break of 53 in the second frame to draw level with India. Partnering Xu Jianhao, Zhou later compiled a flowing break of 81 to down Advani and Mehta in the doubles for a 2-1 lead.
Advani brought India back into contention with a splendid win over Ma Hailong.
Despite the black ball being out of play — stuck near the top cushion — he made a frame-clinching break of 62 to level scores at 2-2.
However, Mehta, who looked solid in his opening win against Hailong, failed to reproduce that same touch in later frames.
