A late fightback by the Indian cueists was in vain as they lost to Pakistan 33-43 in the inaugural Peace Cup snooker series in Karachi.

Pakistan, led by IBSF World Snooker Championship runner-up Saleh Mohammad, went into the final day of the three-day tournament with a 30-22 advantage on Saturday and to held on to the lead to take the honours.

India [ Images ] had fielded a four-member team, comprising IBSF World amateur snooker champion Pankaj Advani [ Images ], Yasin Merchant, Alok Kumar and Manan Chandra.

With just five points separating the two teams, India needed to win the final tie -- Lucky Seven -- with a bonus point to secure the Cup. But the experienced Alok Kumar faltered at a crucial juncture only to see Mohammad run away with the match.

Earlier, putting aside a disappointing performance of the previous day, the Indian cueists started on a positive note as the duo of Pankaj Advani and Alok Kumar overpowered Pakistan's fancied duo of Saleh Muhammad and Khurram Agha 2-1 (73-1, 40-78, 74-7) in the doubles match.

Naveen Perwani and Muhammad Yousuf pulled it back for Pakistan, beating the combination of Yasin Merchant and Manan Chandra 2-1 (80-70, 53-60, 58-43) in the other doubles encounter.

Alok Kumar then won the singles tie against Naveen Perwani 2-1 (14-69, 52-38, 62-40) and India improved their chances further when captain Yasin Merchant overwhelmed Muhammad Yousuf 2-1 (104-13, 54-61, 70-23).

Yasin recorded a break of 97 in the opening frame, which earned a badly needed bonus point for his team.

Pakistan's top ranked cueist Khurram Agha was stretched to the full by Manan Chandra, but Agha went on to win the match 2-1 (54-43, 59-63, 65-51).

The last singles of the Test series featured the finalists of the IBSF World Championship 2003. World champion Pankaj Advani showed glimpses of his top form, edging out Muhammad 2-1 (65-55, 58-67, 67-26) to bring down the deficit to mere five points going into the Lucky Seven.