Defending Champion Awais Munir Shines at Asian Six-Red Snooker Championship

Karachi: Pakistan’s Awais Munir, the defending champion, commenced his campaign impressively at the Asian Six-Red Snooker Championship. He secured two significant victories on the first day, which included a remarkable 75-point maximum break, thus earning a spot in the pre-quarterfinals.

Munir, having won two out of his three matches in the group stage, was joined by fellow countrymen Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Sajjad, who also achieved notable wins on the opening day of the competition, which is being hosted in Sri Lanka.

Match Details

In his initial Group A match, Munir triumphed over Macau’s Chi Kin Chan with a score of 4-2, the individual frame scores being 1-53, 41-11, 38-6, 9-38, 49-0, and 57-0. He clinched the match by securing a 52-point break in the final frame.

Following this, he delivered a commanding performance against Ziaur Rahman Azad from Bangladesh, achieving the highest possible break of 75 points. The frame scores in this match were 65-0, 47-17, 59-8, and 75-0.

Separately, IBSF World Champion Muhammad Asif started his tournament with a 4-1 victory against Cambodia’s Neang Tola. The frame scores read 37-17, 47-0, 9-59, 44-0, and 39-9.

Muhammad Sajjad also put up a strong showing, defeating Bahrain’s Khalil Busaif 4-0, with frame scores of 46-15, 34-21, 48-17, and 46-13.

Upcoming Matches

Munir is now scheduled to compete against Pushpender Singh of India in the subsequent round. Meanwhile, Asif and Sajjad are slated to participate in two more group stage matches each.

Background

Notably, Munir previously claimed the Asian Six-Red Snooker Championship title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on July 2, 2024, where he defeated Hong Kong’s Nansen Wan.

Munir secured a 6-3 victory after the match was initially tied at 2-2. He then proceeded to win three consecutive frames, taking a significant 5-2 lead.

Although Nansen briefly recovered in the eighth frame, Munir maintained control and displayed excellent potting skills in the ninth frame to secure the title. The frame scores for the final match were 0-65, 35-26, 27-36, 38-20, 0-65, 13-46, 8-60, 34-0, 27-40.