Another first almost occurred in the tournament today. In the match between  Ka Kai Wan of Hong Kong and Australia’s Jessica Woods, and with Wan Leading 2-Nil, she started the third frame and in the rally of safe shots, both the players started pushing all reds towards corner pocket and covered that with a re-crafted bunch. The rally went for more than 30 minutes. Eventually it was Jessica who took the initiative and broke that re-crafted bunch and managed to put some points on the score board. Though she gained the lead but failed to sustain it for long as Ka Kai Wan overtook and closed the proceedings by winning the frame and match.

Amornrat Uamduang of Thailand played today's match exceptionally well and had no problem in defeating Neena Praveen of India 3-0. Amornrat produced two breaks of 56 and 59 points in first two frames to shock Neena. By the time Neena could recover from the shock it was already time to shake hands.

The Master Darren Morgan continued demonstrating his break building technique.  In today's match he crafted breaks of 76, 89 and 59 in all three frames to edge out Ivan Attard of Malta 3-0. His break building technique is great tutorial for many to learn from.

Defending Champion, Wendy Jans of Belgium demonstrated excellence of game and produced four breaks in three frames to thrash out Nikoleta Nikolova of Bulgaria 3-0. Earlier in the tournament Wendy had been threatened by Siripaporn and had to struggle to wing. But today was another day. In the first frame itself Wendy’s breaks of 54 and 50 were enough indication to her opponent that the match would be a short one and she made it come true by producing two breaks of 32 and 31 points in successive frames to seal the match 3-0.

The big upset of the day was from the cue of Tetsuya Kuwata of Japan who defeated former World No.4 Soheil Vahedi of Iran. With an opening break of 83 points, Tetsuya exhibited his talent and made it clear that he was not intimidated by Vahedi’s achievements. Though Vahedi  rose to the challenge and leveled the score line by winning the next frame but after that it was Tetsuya all always. He never allowed Vahedi into the match again as he maintained a good lead in remaining frames and succeeded in creating a massive depression in the Iranian camp.

The Russian ace cueist Irina Gorbataya's match against Yana Shut of Belarus swung like a pendulum with both the players winning the alternate frames. Though Irina did have a chance in the fourth frame to close the proceedings but Yana ended the game and forced the decider to be laid on the green baize. The fifth frame was so fiercely fought that it all came down to the black ball and in the end it was Irina who held her nerves better and  potted the much needed black ball to win the match 3-2.

Former world champion Ng On Yee scored the first century break on day one of the 2013 IBSF World Championship which began today  in Daugavpils, Latvia. Her 104 in the second frame was the reflection of  how dominating she was throughout the match. Her French opponent Linda Lassaut had no answers to Yee’s confident, rhythm and cueing as she lost 0-3.

In the presence of Mr. Jim Leacy, IBSF President, Mr. Jury Shabashov, LRBF President and Ms. Jana Cirule from "TeleTrade" (The main sponsor), Mr. Janis Lachplesis, Mayor of Daugavpils announced the 2013 IBSF World Championship open for next 11 days.

242 cueists from 51 countries must all be making last minute preparations as the 2013 IBSF World Snooker Championship gets closer and closer. The mega event is to begin November 27th at the awesome Daugavpils Olympic Sports Center in the picturesque city of  Daugavpils, Latvia and will finish on December 8th.

Of the 242 players who shall participate in this massive event, 126 will fight it out for the Men's trophy.  The Masters and Women events will see 74 and 42 contestants respectively. Their battleground, that 6’x12’ area with the green baize, is to be provided by ‘Shender’ the official table provider to IBSF, Snooker Balls from ‘Aramith’ and the table cloth by ‘Strachan’.

While the players are honing their game, the city of Daugavpils is also busy getting ready to welcome their guests. Dinaburg Hotel and Park Hotel Latgola will play the host to all the visitors.

IBSF wishes all the players best of luck and the city of Daugavpils anxiously awaits to make your stay a pleasant one.

Peter Gilchrist from Singapore won his maiden World Billiards (Long-Up) title under the banner of IBSF-WBL here in Leeds, England. Before this, he had won the World Professional Billiards championship twice in the year 1994 and 2001 but never got to win the championship conducted by IBSF.