The Indian trio of Rafath Habib, Siddhartha Rao and Aditya Mehta suffered their first loss in

the World Snooker Team Championships at San Jose, the United States, as India 'B' lost to Thailand 4-5 in Group 'B' on Thursday.

The Thai side comprised 2004 IBSF World Under-21 championship finalist Kobkit Palajin, Phaithoon Phonbun and Atthasit Mahitthi.

The defeat, in their last league engagement, saw India 'B' finish second in their group.

The result, however, did not affect their passage to the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, India 'A' defeated Sweden 7-2 to finish second in Group 'A', while the Seniors' defeated Scotland 6-3 to top the group and qualify for the last eight stage.

Habib was the only Indian to score a victory, defeating Mahitthi 60-57, 63-16, 42-64.

Rao and Mehta could not stand up to the challenge of their more fancied opponents, Palajin and Phonbun respectively.

Rao was crushed by Palajin, 74-54, 19-81, 4-76, while Mehta lost 10-65, 30-88, 57-14 to Phonbun.

In Group 'A', National champion Manan Chandra bounced back to defeat Jim Johansson 16-74, 83-22, 59-27 in the first match.

Pankaj Advani, however, continued with his impressive form, romping home 72-44, 60-62, 108-1 against Kevin Zarakani.

Yasin Merchant got the better of Mattias Enerdal, winning 58-42, 99-10, 79-41.