Updated on Thursday, November 05, 2009, 17:22 IST Tags:Manan Chandra

Hanoi: India cueist Manan Chandra's medal hopes in the third Asian Indoor Games went up in smoke after he lost his third place play off match against UAE's Mohamed Al-Hashmi in the 15-Red Snooker discipline here n Thursday.

Chandra failed to display the aggression and spunk he had shown in his last outings and lost (2-4), 54-18, 46-31, 58-59, 25-68, 15-70, 41-60 to Mohamed Mustafa Mohamed Al-Hashmi.

Chandra who displayed some gutsy potting and cushion work during the tournament, seemed out of touch and made undue potting errors, which cost him the game.

Yesterday, after leading till halfway, Chandra lost his semifinal match to Afghanistan's Nadeer Khan Sultani (3-4), 75-17, 64-73, 16-68, 44-42, 52-42, 22-62, 36-54.

Earlier in the tournament, Chandra had came agonisingly close to a medal win in the 6-Red Snooker discipline but lost his third place match to Chinese Taipei's Yu Lun Wu.

Indian hopes are now pinned at the English Billiards category event where reigning world champion Pankaj Advani and veteran cueist Geet Sethi will spearhead the Indian challenge.

Bureau Report