TRENT VALE potter Dave Harold has backed Ryan Day to win the Bahrain Snooker Championship after losing 5-2 to the on-fire Welshman in the opening round yesterday.

Harold was given very little chance by the confident world number eight, a beaten finalist at the recent Grand Prix in Glasgow.

Despite taking a 1-0 lead, and making a match high break of 117 to level things up at 2-2, Harold was forced onto the back foot at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre.

"Ryan is the number one at the moment. He is playing really well, and it is just hard to control him," conceded the 41-year-old world number 28.

"He is definitely a big favourite. He is in the top half of the draw, which is a little easier because Ronnie (O'Sullivan) has pulled out. He will take some stopping in that form."

Although disappointed with the defeat, which now gives him a few days off to explore Bahrain, Harold was far from disappointed with his own performance. He was just more frustrated at the quality of his opponent.

"I thought I played pretty well really," he continued. "I thought he had a bit of luck in frame three because I finished hampered on four reds, and he went on and won it.

"I also had a chance in the sixth frame, but if you are playing Ryan at the moment you have to be on top of your game. If you aren't, you get beaten.

"It was a little bit devastating in the last frame because I played a good safety, and he potted a ball that he had no right to go for. But that is Ryan for you.

"Apart from Ronnie, he is playing the best snooker of the lot. I would have had to have found another level that I have probably not found when I have played the top two or three players."

If Harold wins his qualifying match for the UK Championship (December 13-21), he will play world number one O'Sullivan in the first round.

The qualifiers are at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield from December 1-8.