China's Liu Song out of Welsh Open Snooker

NEWPORT, SOUTH WALES, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese qualifier Liu Song was knocked out of the Welsh Open Snooker in the first round by Australian cueman Neil Robertson here on Monday.

Liu made great efforts to hold world number nine Robertson at 2-2, but faded quickly after the interval to lose the first round match 5-2.

Liu, 26, advanced into a ranking tournament for the first time in two years by winning three matches in a row in the qualifying rounds. He admitted that he hadn't played a ranking tournament for a long time that he was not used to the atmosphere.

"I was nervous at first but I played some good shots," said Liu, who turned pro 2003 after grabbing the silver medal at the U21 World Championships earlier that year. "I made some mistakes while trailing at 3-2 so as to lose the whole game."

Meeting Robertson for the first time in seven years after the Australian beat him in the final of U21 World Championships, Liu believed that he was left behind quite a lot by his counterpart.

"Neil continues to make great achievements in competitions and holds his position among the top 16. I'm left behind and there is a big gap between us," said Liu who places 59th in the world rankings.

Liu's next event is China Open qualifying, which runs from February 2nd to 5th.