Alok Kumar crashes out

Asian snooker champion Alok Kumar's dream of making it big at the world level was dashed after Pakistan's Saleh Mohammad beat him 5-0 in the knock-out stage of the World Snooker Championships in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, on Wednesday.

Mohammad, seeded fifth, won five frames in a row in the best-of-nine frame match to send the Indian national champion packing in the morning session.

Alok, who made it to the knock-out stage by the skin of his teeth, surrendered meekly to his higher-ranked opponent, losing 37-64, 33-57, 22-69, 5-73, 59-74.

With Alok Kumar out, India's hopes in the men's section rest on defending champion and sixth seed Pankaj Advani and Manan Chandra.

While Advani will take on Fung Kwok Wai of Hong Kong, Chandra faces seventh seeded David Morris of Ireland. Both the matches are scheduled later in the day.

In the women's section, Anuja Kumar will fight it out for a spot in the next round against Germany's Natascha Niermann and in the senior category B V S Murthy plays Eugene Hughes.