Mixed day for Indians at World Snooker

Daugavpils (Latvia): Shahbaz Khan reigned supreme on the green baize with a convincing 4-2 win over Finland's Timo Salovaara while Brijesh Damani paid dearly for missing a simple blue against Matthew Bolton of Australia, losing 2-4 in the IBSF World Snooker here today.

Khan potted the ball all around the table skillfully to win 50-73 69-23 72-5 10-89 55-42 64-22 against Salovaara in the men's section. Damani, having lost the first frame, made a spirited comeback to go 2-1 up. He should have gone 3-1 up had he not missed the blue which he played to position himself for pink and black.

Damani lost 20-66 63-34 81-4 42-63 37-53 27-65 on the third day of the championship.

In the women's section, Neena Praveen lost to Australia's 54-year-old veteran Kathy Parashis (1-3) 39-47 45-53 64-45 20-48 while Varshaa Sanjeev, the youngest player in the Indian contingent, won a hard-fought battle against France's Linda Lassant (3-2) 48-12 58-17 32-70 40-45 68-33.

In the Masters section (above 40), India's Nigel Lazer beat his Iranian opponent, Mohammed Aliabadi (3-0) 62-7 66-17 84-45.