Former World Professional Billiards Champion Robby Foldvari, from Australia, is not noted for his unseemly haste around the table.

So it came as something of a surprise to his opponent and spectators when he turned in a blistering display of high speed potting and break building in his Group C Seniors match.

France's Daniel Poly could only sit and watch in amazement as Foldvari whistled through a 104 break, followed that up with a superb 128 clearance and then set out on another attempted clearance.

Sadly for Foldvari there was some confusion over the score when his score had reached 79 (or was it 69?) and his break finished at 91; but Foldvari firmly maintains that he should have had the extra ten points he was denied and therefore claims three successive century breaks, a rare feat in any level of snooker.

Not to be outdone by the "old boys" network, eighteen year old Mark Allen, the current European Champion, smashed in runs of 121, 122 and 74 against Kimmo Lang, in their Group G encounter in the Men's event.

Steve Mifsud, the 2002 Champion, rattled up breaks of 64, 89 and a superb 138, which set a noteworthy high break target. But this was not enough to deny Bahrain's Habib Subah, who battled back to win the Group B match 4-3.

Defending champion Pankaj Advani really had his work cut out before edging Mohammed Al Joker 4-3. Advani contributed 71 and Joker 68, before Advani produced a nerveless 83 clearance to clinch the deciding frame from 52 points adrift.

Gavin Pantall notched a break of 102 in a 4-1 win over China's Cai Jianzhong and England's David Lilley smacked in 100 on the way to beating fellow Challenge Tour pro Manan Chandra 4-2.

South Africa's Charl Jonck constructed an excellent 129 clearance in frame two against Peter Barnes and added the third on the black on the way to a 4-0 Group A win.

The Ladies in Group B will have one few match to play. Germany's Franziska Stark was unable to take her place in the draw. England's Katie Henrick added a solid 3-1 win over Anuja Thakur from India in their Group B match, while Australia's Tammy Cantoni won three closely contested frames against France's Stephanie Tulimiero.

Singapore's Juli snatched two frames on the black against Latvia's Inese Kazoka in their Group B match.