Indian Open: Zhou’s ‘maximum’ goes in vain

Zhou Yuelong produced snooker’s maximum, the 147 and a tournament record, but it went in vain as he lost 3-4 to Lyu Haotian in a first round battle between two Chinese 21-year-olds at the 2019 Indian Open held in Kochi.

Zhou Yuelong in action at the 2019 Indian Open world-ranking snooker tournament in Kochi on Thursday.

The Chinese were in a mood for big breaks at the Indian Open world-ranking snooker tournament at the Grand Hyatt here on Thursday.

England’s seasoned Mark Davis started the fireworks early in the evening with a 140 in his 4-0 first round victory over compatriot Paul S. Davison and later Zhou Yuelong produced snooker’s maximum, the 147 and a tournament record, but it went in vain as he lost 3-4 to Lyu Haotian in a first round battle between two Chinese 21-year-olds.

Zhou is no stranger to big breaks. At the event’s last edition, in Visakhapatnam in 2017, the Chinese had the tournament’s highest break of 141.

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Another Chinese, Zhao Xintong, fired a 140 in his 4-2 victory over England’s Sam Baird while Englishman Andrew Higginson had a 133 in his 4-0 verdict over the last Indian here, the 16-year-old Digvijay Kadian.

Zhou Yuelong produced snooker's maximum, the 147, but ended up losing.

 

A few hours before that, England’s Michael Holt, hungry for revenge after his loss last week to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the one-frame Shoot Out tournament, produced a century break in his revenge match but that was not good enough as the Thai recovered well to take the match 4-2.

“My ranking was just a step behind Holt at No. 41, now, with this victory, I will go one step above him,” said Thepchaiya.

Meanwhile despite the 4-0 loss, Digvijay, a wild-card here, impressed while giving the Englishman a close fight in the second and third frames which he lost on the last black. He led 68-20 in the third frame before losing 68-69.