Shrikrishna wins as India retain World 6Red Snooker title

KUALA LUMPUR: Shrikrishna Suryanarayan of India whitewashed Habib Sabah of Bahrain 5-1 in a one-sided best-of-9 frames final here on Tuesday to become the World 6Red Snooker Champion for the year 2022.

Shrikrishna retained the title for India that was won in the last edition by Laxman Rawat. The championship played in Kuala Lumpur saw the 22-year-old Shrikrishna come up with a dominant display to win his maiden title in the IBSF World Championship 2022 for Team Snooker, 6Red, and English Billiards at the High-End Snooker Club here.

Repeating the tremendous form that he showed on Monday during the semifinal match, Shrikrishna mesmerised the audience with his characteristic blistering attack from the word go.

The first frame saw Shrikrishna going ahead with a lead of 25 points with only 22 points remaining on the table. Habib needed one snooker to return to the game but despite many attempts couldn't trap Shrikrishna, who kept on breaking the snooker and ultimately cleared from brown ball onwards to win the 1st frame.

A missed long shot by Shrikrishna offered Habib a good opening. With careful planning, Habib executed a break of 37. Failing to make a comeback Shrikrishna conceded the frame when he was required to snooker twice.

In the third frame, a desperate long-pot attempt by Habib on the first visit allowed Shrikrishna to see again in phenomenal form, who cleared the table with a delectable break of 63. Leading 2-1, Shrikrishna continued his attack with utmost precision and a high success rate of potting and clinched the frame comfortably.

In the fourth frame, Shrikrishna, playing a tactical game with a mix of potting and safety play, went ahead with a small and useful run to lead 3-1. With brilliant cuemanship and precise positioning, Shrikrishna continued his assault in the 5th frame with an amazing long pull-back on red followed by yet another match-winning break of 45, executed in a whirlwind fashion.

By this time Habib was completely rattled and made another mistake of attempting an unnecessary long-pot and offered Shrikrishna another opening.

Shrikrishna made no mistake at that juncture and unfolded his vast repertoire of strokes, worked his way through to make another frame-and-match winning break of 39.

The medals ceremony was graced by Malaysia's Minister of Youth and Sports, Ahmad Faizal Azumu along with President IBSF Mubarak Al-Khayarin, Vice President IBSF Jim Leacy, President Malaysian Snooker and Billiards Federation Melvin Chia

This has been a lucky venue for Shrikrishna as he made it to the top-8 of the Asian 6Red Snooker Championship in the same venue last week. He is also the reigning National 6Red Snooker Champion (2021) and has won the National Billiards Championship in the year 2019.