He was expected to come through his opening encounter against India's Balaji Reddy with a minimum of fuss. The opposition for Moh Keen Hoo, a former Asian under-21 champion, came more from the spectators than the Indian cueist.

The constant opening and closing of doors seemed to upset his rhythm. It took almost an hour for the Malyasian ace to get used to that. By that time, Reddy had made capital of Hoo's errors by taking the first two frames of the best-of-seven-frame Group B clash.

But before much damage could be done, Hoo took the next four frames on the trot to come through 4-2 in the IBSF World under-21 Snooker Championships at the Bogmallo Beach Resort here on Wednesday.

The Malaysian returned with his batteries recharged after a five-minute toilet break following the loss of the first two frames. Hoo warmed up with a frame-clinching 44 in the third. Latching on to a Reddy error, Hoo came up with a sizzling 88 clearance in the next to level frame scores.

While Hoo began to grow in confidence, the Bangalore-based Reddy began to struggle. Hoo was not complaining. On another of Reddy's errors -- which began to flow thick and fast -- Hoo compiled a silken-smooth 67 before losing position for the last red in the fifth frame.

But that was enough for him to go up (3-2) for the first time in the match. Reddy made a last-ditch effort to stay in the match, going up 44-30 with just the colours left on the table in the sixth. But Hoo hit back, taking the yellow, green and brown to reduce the deficit (39-44). He then snookered Reddy on the blue to go up 54-44.

Taking the match
He took the blue to the centre pocket and the pink to the bottom right to close the frame and the match. Early on, despite doing all the front-running, Hoo was not able to close out the first two frames. Reddy, down 38-53, took the first frame on the pink and the next on the black to raise visions of an unlikely upset.

But then, Reddy rode mainly on Hoo's errors than any brilliance on his part. Once the Malaysian put the issue of the door behind him, he was firing on all cylinders. Reddy was reduced to a mere spectator, watching the marvel unfold on the table.

Elsewhere, Shivam Arora, despite not coming up with anything noteworthy, was still too good for the hapless Douglas Appelberg of Sweden. The Indian came through 4-1 in a Group G clash. Ajay Bhushan and Younis Kuchey, the other two Indians on view on the opening day, lost to Maurisz Sirko and Lim Jia Sheng respectively.

Results:
Group A: Michael Georgiou (Eng) bt Tomass Gailums (Lat) 4-0 (51-45, 59-32, 56-50, 72 (41) -1); Ahmed Ghulam Muanedi (Bah) bt Arya Sohrabi (Ned) 4-1 (41-46, 69-1, 69-39, 70-10, 57-24).
Group B: Moh Keen Hoo (Mal) bt Balaji Reddy (Ind) 4-2 (58 (46) -70, 55-58, 67 (47) -9, 100 (88 cl.) -28, 79 (67) -21); Vincent Muldoon (Ire) bt Yassen Hatem (Egt) 4-0 (74-8, 79-19, 48-12, 90-1); David Meier-Bailey (NZ) w/o Omar Alkojah (Syr).
Group C: Davy Pauly (Bel) bt Nedal Al-Bakshy (KSA) 4-1 (65-25, 37-64, 92-7, 56-49, 102-24); Lim Jia Sheng (Sing) bt Younis Kuchey (Ind) 4-3 (61-21, 40-90, 84-6, 17-61, 1-60, 71-15, 65-25).
Group D: John Loh (Mal) bt Hussein Alwatani (Bah) 4-1 (4-54, 59-50, 63-27, 51-37, 66-30); Li Hang (Chn) bt Marc Davis (Sco) 4-1 (45-58, 94-21, 69-5, 55-43, 57-36).
Group E: Robbie Williams (Eng) bt Thor Chuan Leong (Mal) 4-2 (81-47, 74-46, 43-54, 40-49, 63-37, 84-28); Mriusz Sirko (Pol) bt Ajay Bhushan (Ind) 4-2 (54-52, 68-49, 73-19, 35-62, 42-65, 65-55).
Group F: Daniel Wells (Wales) bt Abdullaj Al-Sobhy (KSA) 4-0 (102 (87) -7, 65-24, 79-4, 58-9); Christoffer Koba (Swe) w/o Yu Delu (Chn).
Group G: Shivam Arora (Ind) bt Douglas Appelberg (Swe) 4-1 (91-8, 53-41, 55-68, 57-30, 86-52); Passakorn Suwannawat (Thai) bt Abdulla Ibrahim Hassim (UAE) 4-0 (60 (53) -3, 86-32, 86-7, 61-24).
Group H: Joeri Reisig (Ned) bt Adam Grabish (Aus) 4-2 (40-62, 58-30, 66-27, 13-65, 64-28, 59-51); David O'Sullivan (Ire) bt Michael Zielinski (Pol) 4-2 (46-56, 63-8, 55-29, 44-62, 72-25, 58-45).