Pakistan trio make it to Asian Snooker pre-quarterfinals

KARACHI: Pakistan’s cueists continued their fine form at the Asian 6-Red Snooker Championship 2025 in Colombo, with all three players — Awais Ullah Munir, Muhammad Asif, and Muhammad Sajjad — securing spots in the pre-quarterfinal stage.

Defending champion Awais Ullah Munir maintained a perfect record, winning all three group matches. His latest triumph came against India’s Pushpender Singh in a tightly contested 4–2 battle, highlighted by breaks of 66, 35, and 31.

Muhammad Asif won two of his three matches, comfortably defeating Oman’s Abdullah Al Raisi 4–0, with a classy 55 break, but later fell to Irshath Mohamed Thaha of Sri Lanka in a seven-frame encounter.

Muhammad Sajjad has also won both of his matches, including a commanding 4–0 victory over Sri Lanka’s Badurdeen Mohamed Musarra, which featured a fluent 58 break. His final league match was scheduled for the late evening against Malaysia’s Lim Kok Leong.

The group phase, featuring 32 players from 13 nations, will determine the top two players from each group who advance to the knockout rounds. Results: Muhammad Asif (Pak) bt Abdullah Al Raisi Ahmed A (Oman) 4-0 (40-1, 27-14, 27-24, 56(55)-04); Muhammad Sajjad (Pak) bt Badurdeen Mohamed Musarra (Sri Lanka) 4-0 (41-9, 35-1, 58(58)-5, 25-21); Awais Ullah Munir (Pak) bt Pushpender Singh (India) 4-2 (1-51(37), 47(34)-0, 66(35,31)-0, 10-46, 34-21, 33-21);

Irshath Mohamed Thaha (Sri Lanka) bt Muhammad Asif (Pak) v (5-47, 18-32, 66(35,31)-0, 0-44(36), 42-18, 54(38)-4, 44(40)-0).