TOP contenders are out of the Golden Cue Open Snooker tournament after losing to underdogs yesterday.
Suman Lal, Jiten Prasad, Yogen Prasad and Ravi Narayan were unable to book their places in the quarter-finals to be played at Defence Club in Suva today.
Lal, who won the Fiji Snooker Open last month, was unable to continue with the same momentum losing to former Fiji number one Jiten Prasad of Nadi 1-2 in the first round of competition yesterday.
Khatri, the winner of the last national rankings tournament also faced defeat after losing to Mahen Deo 1-2.
Biren Prasad of Suva quashed Narayan's chances of winning the inaugural tournament beating him 1-2 while Yogen lost to Eroni Vaka of Nausori Club.
Nadi's Rimal Narayan overcame a tough battle to book a date with Yashni Kant of New Zealand in the first quarters.
Mahen Deo will face Ravinesh Maharaj, Deepak Jai Ram takes on Vineel Nand while Pranil Singh will battle youngster Rahil Prasad in the remaining quarters.
Southern Division Billiard and Snooker Association president Narayan said they were impressed with the competition level yesterday.
He said the falling out of top guns from the tournament signified the effective development programs they had been running.
Narayan said former Champion of the Champions winner Singh looked the top contender but would face a tough battle from Ram and Deo.
The Export Freight Services Limited-sponsored tournament which ends today will see the winner walking away with the golden cue worth $500 and $500 cash.
The runner-up receives $250 while the losing semi-finalist gets $100 each.
The losing quarter-finalists will get $50 each.