National 6-Red Snooker C’ship gets under way in Dhaka

 
The National 6-Red Snooker Championship 2026 got under way at Gulshan Club on Thursday, bringing together 111 cueists from 10 clubs in what organisers see as another important platform for the development of snooker in Bangladesh.

The eight-day championship, organised by the Bangladesh Billiard & Snooker Federation (BBSF) and sponsored by Partex Group, will continue until 8 October at Gulshan Club. The opening ceremony was held at the club's Patio Hall on Thursday afternoon.

The 2026 edition comes against a backdrop of increasing activity in Bangladesh's cue-sports circuit. The country's conventional National Snooker Championship, held earlier this year, featured 183 players from 32 clubs. 

The six-red format has also established a place of its own in the domestic calendar. Unlike traditional 15-red snooker, six-red snooker is played with fewer reds, generally making for shorter, more attacking and faster-paced frames. The format has previously been described by Bangladeshi organisers as increasingly spectator-friendly, while the National 6-Red Championship has been used as a platform for both established cueists and emerging players.

Gulshan Club has become a regular home for the championship. The club hosted the 2025 edition, when 119 players from 21 clubs took part. That tournament began in September and concluded with the final at Gulshan Club later that month.

The current tournament therefore represents a slightly smaller field than last year's six-red championship but remains part of a broader expansion of competitive snooker activity in the country. The 2026 National Snooker Championship's 183-player field, for example, demonstrated participation extending well beyond the traditional club circuit, with specialist cue-sports establishments also represented.

The opening ceremony was attended by Gulshan Club President M. A. Quader (Anu), BBSF Vice-President Tazbir Salehin (Sohail), Partex Group representative Arman Lee Aziz, Gulshan Club Director Anaf Aziz, BBSF Joint Secretary Sultan Moyeen Ahmed Robin and Tournament Director Sabik Rahman, along with club members, guests and media representatives.

The tournament is being staged with the support of the BBSF leadership under its President, Brigadier General Sarkar Muhammad Shamsuddin, ndc, psc (Retd), while Partex Group continues its involvement as a private-sector supporter of cue sports. Partex's backing has also featured in previous editions of the National 6-Red Championship.

The development of competitive snooker in Bangladesh, however, extends beyond individual championships. Gulshan Club's own sports programme lists billiards and snooker among its established indoor sports, while the club has regularly hosted national and inter-club competitions.

There is also a longer history behind the six-red discipline in Bangladesh. The country's inaugural National 6-Red Snooker Championship was held in 2010, with Gulshan Club's Mofazzal Hossain winning the title. The championship at the time also served as a route for the finalists to represent Bangladesh at the Asian 6-Red Snooker Championship.