Top seeded Wattana, once ranked No 5 in World snooker, was a mere shadow of his former self and evidently wilted under enormous pressure to perform in front of an expectant home audience.

There could be no other explanation to the 29-year old who in his hey day had earned the nickname of ``T dd haiphoon.'' But, on the day, the typhoon was just a gentle breeze. And one can be sure that the country will go into a mourning tonight.

While Thailand had plenty to cry about, the Indians enjoyed a successful day as both their singles entries, Yasin Merchant and Alok Kumar, came through their respective first round matches, but not without a few hiccups.Yasin snatched a 5-4 win against Muhammad Saleh ofPakistan on the black ball after a disputed referee's decision. Yasin, trying a thin shot on a long red, disturbed the black before the cue-ball cannoned on to the red. The referee declared a ``foul and a miss'' which Yasin hotly disputed (see box) first contending that he had hit the red first and then unhappy with the repositioning of the balls.

Alok Kumar laboured to an unimpressive 5-1 win over Chayanun Tangpongsaphun of Vietnam to also make it to the round of 16. Alok, playing way below par, struggled right through the match. There were no big breaks but consistency rather than flair marked Alok's performance which, one can be sure, he would not care to remember.

Much of the drama in the morning emanated from the Yasin-Saleh encounter which was a touch and go affair after the Pakistani No 2 rallied from 0-2 to make it 3-3 and then go 4-3 ahead. Yasin began well enough with a 55 break in the second in reply to Saleh's 42. But in the third frame, Saleh potted a long red against the nap anddramatically, he looked a different player as he wrapped up the frame only to lose the next on the colours.