KARACHI: Junior Asian Under-21 Snooker Champion Mohammad Hasnain pulled off a stunning 4-2 upset against fifth seed Abdul Javed on the opening day of the 49th National Snooker Cham­pionship here at the NBP Sports Club on Tuesday.

Hasnain, representing Sindh, edged past Javed from Islamabad with a thrilling 54-67, 68-23, 10-83, 81-12, 68-30, 79(54)-16 scoreline.

Punjab’s Awaisullah Munir — who won the Asian 6-red Snooker Championship in 2024 — made a strong start to his campaign, firing a century break of 103 to thrash Mohammad Muzammil from Islamabad 59-19, 65-40, 54-41, 103-0.

Defending champion Asjad Iqbal of Punjab was also in dominant form, cruising past Balochistan’s Jahanzaib Jahangir 79-32, 67-02, 112(56,52)-0, 64-1(64).

A one-sided contest ensued between Punjab’s Naseem Akhtar and Ayyan Ali from Sindh, with Naseem securing a 42-25, 71-15, 66-14, 56-29 victory.

Sindh’s Sohail Shahzad, meanwhile, rallied to outplay Malik Muzammil from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 4-2, taking frames 103(85)-15, 79(59)-18, 99(99)-25, 72-47.

M. Shahbaz proved too strong for Bahadur Khan from Balochistan, winning 4-1. Sharjeel Mahmood registered a narrow 4-2 triumph over Ali Raza, while Zulfiqar A. Qadir overpowered Shahid Saleem 4-2.

In other matches, Mubashir Raza defeated Ibrahim Khan 4-2, Abdullah thrashed Faisal Daniyal 4-0 and Umair Alam crushed Sarbland Khan 4-1. Khizr Aziz and M. Nazir from Punjab also advanced, defeating Asadullah 4-0 and Ali Dara 4-2, respectively.

The championship will run until Feb 1 and features a total of 48 players from across the country, divided into eight groups. The top two players from each group will qualify for the pre-quarter finals.

The winner of the championship will receive a prize of Rs200,000, while the runner-up will receive Rs100,000. Semi-finalists will receive Rs50,000 each, quarter-finalists Rs25,000 each and the player achieving the highest break will receive Rs25,000.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2025