Sport in Short: Snooker

MARK WILLIAMS, the Welsh 17-year- old whose winning streak is the third longest in professional competition, extended his unbeaten run to 26 matches with a 5-1 win over Australia's Steve Mifsud in the first round of the Classic International Open at Blackpool yesterday.

CLASSIC INTERNATIONAL OPEN (Norbreck Castle Hotel, Blackpool) First round (Eng unless stated): S Judd bt S Lee 5-3; M Williams (Wal) bt S Mifsud (Aus) 5-1; L Grant bt J Rea (Sco) 5-1; P Cavney bt B Cassidy 5-3; J O'Boye bt J Pegram 5-3; J Burnett (Sco) bt B Pinches 5-2; S Mazrocis bt I Brumby 5-2; J Higgins (Sco) bt D Taylor 5-4; C Kikis bt P Gibson 5-3; P McPhillips (Sco) bt B Rouwswell 5-1; D Walker bt R Bales 5-2; S Mellish bt K Payne 5-2; A Hamilton bt M Flowerdew 5-1; F O'Brien (Irl) bt P Daubney 5-3; G MacDonald bt W Lloyd (Wal) 5-4; A Borg (Malta) bt A Rosa 5-3; J Whittaker bt B Harris w/o; B Snaddon (Sco) bt B Bunn 5-0; A Hicks bt J Shilton 5-4; D Henry (Sco) bt C Cookson 5-0; R O'Sullivan bt J Woodman 5-3; T Shaw bt J Grech (Malta) 5-0; S Meakin bt N Dyson 5-2; R Marshall bt P Webb 5-4; N Terry bt E Henderson (Sco) 5-2; S O'Connor (Irl) bt S Lanigan 5-3; A Cheema bt B Jones 5-2.

NEAL FOULDS, the world No 5, was beaten 4-1 by the Asian champion, Rom Surin, of Thailand, in the first round of the Kent Classic in Beijing.

KENT CLASSIC TOURNAMENT (Beijing) First round: J White (Eng) bt Z Hai (Ch) 4-2; D Taylor (N Irl) bt G Wilkinson (Eng) 4-0; S Hendry (Sco) bt C H An (Ch) 4-0; T Griffiths (Wal) bt K Kwok (HK) 4-3; S Davis (Eng) bt G Hua (Ch) 4-2; R Surin (Thai) bt N Foulds (Eng) 4-1.