A late fightback by the Indian cueists was in vain as they lost to Pakistan 33-43 in the inaugural Peace Cup snooker series in Karachi.

Pakistan, led by IBSF World Snooker Championship runner-up Saleh Mohammad, went into the final day of the three-day tournament with a 30-22 advantage on Saturday and to held on to the lead to take the honours.

India had fielded a four-member team, comprising IBSF World amateur snooker champion Pankaj Advani, Yasin Merchant, Alok Kumar and Manan Chandra.

With just five points separating the two teams, India needed to win the final tie -- Lucky Seven -- with a bonus point to secure the Cup. But the experienced Alok Kumar faltered at a crucial juncture only to see Mohammad run away with the match.

Earlier, putting aside a disappointing performance of the previous day, the Indian cueists started on a positive note as the duo of Pankaj Advani and Alok Kumar overpowered Pakistan's fancied duo of Saleh Muhammad and Khurram Agha 2-1 (73-1, 40-78, 74-7) in the doubles match.

Naveen Perwani and Muhammad Yousuf pulled it back for Pakistan, beating the combination of Yasin Merchant and Manan Chandra 2-1 (80-70, 53-60, 58-43) in the other doubles encounter.

Alok Kumar then won the singles tie against Naveen Perwani 2-1 (14-69, 52-38, 62-40) and India improved their chances further when captain Yasin Merchant overwhelmed Muhammad Yousuf 2-1 (104-13, 54-61, 70-23).

Yasin recorded a break of 97 in the opening frame, which earned a badly needed bonus point for his team.

Pakistan's top ranked cueist Khurram Agha was stretched to the full by Manan Chandra, but Agha went on to win the match 2-1 (54-43, 59-63, 65-51).

The last singles of the Test series featured the finalists of the IBSF World Championship 2003. World champion Pankaj Advani showed glimpses of his top form, edging out Muhammad 2-1 (65-55, 58-67, 67-26) to bring down the deficit to mere five points going into the Lucky Seven.