Geet Sethi shocked

Thailand's Rom Surin caused the biggest upset at the British Open billiards championship, being played in Middlesbrough, England, by knocking out the reigning World champion Geet Sethi of India in the first round.

The little-known Thai staged a remarkable comeback after falling into arrears by 150 points in the second hour, to eventually triumph by a slender 474-409 points.

India's national champion Devendra Joshi also fell by the wayside, losing to the world No. 3 David Causier 442-742.

Surin opened up an early 100-point lead with breaks of 60 and 56. Sethi, however, with successive runs of 55 and 76 took a slender lead for the first time in the match.

Surin was not the one to give up and came back strongly with a break of 101 to haul himself back into the game. The unheralded Thai, then in the dying moments, unleashed a break of 95 to wrest the match from Sethi's grasp.

Meanwhile, world No. 1 Mike Russell showed his prowess of huge breaks with a 414 to beat Paul Bennett.

UNI