ALI Carter suffered a narrow defeat at the first hurdle of snooker’s International Championship.

The Colchester-born potter led Jack Lisowski four times but eventually succumbed to a 6-5 defeat.

His opponent made breaks of 100 and 62 in the final two frames to complete a nail-biting victory in Daqing, China.

Earlier, Carter, who grew up in Tiptree, had led 2-1. 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4 and made breaks of 99, 51 and 53.

He is not the only high-profile casualty in the £657,000 tournament.

Both world champion Stuart Bingham and Ricky Walden are already out, both beaten by Chinese opponents.