National champion Sourav Kothari’s victory was the lone bright spot for India on the opening day of cue sports competition at the World Games in Chengdu, China, on Sunday.
The 40-year-old Kothari hardly broke sweat in his 2-0 annihilation of Great Britain’s Zac Cosker in men’s snooker.
After having kept his young rival on a tight leash with his brilliant safety play, the Indian ace rifled in a gritty break of 57 in the next to come through in straight frames.
Kothari takes on another Briton, Daryll Hill, in his final Group C match. The top two from the group advance to the knockout quarter-finals.
Kothari had clinched the 2025 IBSF world billiards title after an emphatic victory over multiple-time winner and compatriot Pankaj Advani in the final in Carlow, Ireland, in April.
The victory marked the first IBSF world title (timed format) for Kothari, 35 years after his father, Manoj Kothari, won it in 1990 in Bengaluru.
Kamal Chawla, the other Indian in the fray in snooker, went down 0-2 to former IBSF World champion Ali Alobaidli of Qatar in a Group D match. He next takes on the formidable Michael Georgiou in a must-win game.
In women’s 6-red snooker, India’s Natasha Chethan lost both her Group A matches.
Natasha went down fighting 1-2 to Hong Kong China’s So Man Yan in the morning, and lost 0-2 to Thailand’s Narucha Phoemphul later in the evening.