Simon Zammit and Duncan Bezzina were both playing their final group match and they needed to win to keep their hopes of reaching the last 32 round.

Till yesterday afternoon, they had played eight matches each and registered five wins and three defeats each.

Bezzina had a difficult match to play against Thailand's Issara Kachaniwong while Zammit seemed to have an easier match against N. Ireland's Anthony Heaney.

Zammit lost his three matches against M. McRudden of the Republic of Ireland, Peter Lines of England and Tiam Peng Fei of China while Bezzina's three defeats came at the hands of Mark Tucker of Wales, Po Hsien Lee of China Taipei and India's Pankaj Advani, who is one of the firm favourites to win the Grand Prix. By yesterday afternoon he had won all the eight qualifiers he had played.

Zammit’s best breaks were a 79 and a 71, while Bezzina’s best break was a 77.