1. Muhammad Junaid Muhammad Lafir known as either Mohammed Lafir or M J M Lafir was a Sri Lankan snooker player.
23 Facts About Muhammad Lafir
1. 2.
Muhammad Lafir won the IBSF Amateur World Championship in 1973 and is regarded as the greatest snooker player of Sri Lanka.
3.
Muhammad Lafir was born on 27 May 1930 in Grandpass, a suburb of Colombo, at St Joseph's Street.
4.
Muhammad Lafir had two brothers and a sister in his family.
5.
Muhammad Lafir studied at Hameediah Boys English School.
6.
Muhammad Lafir died on 26 April 1981 at his own house.
7.
Muhammad Lafir's father was a domestic snooker player who has played in friendly domestic tournaments and it inspired Lafir to take up the sport.
8.
Muhammad Lafir initially learnt to play billiards on his family dining table very often with his father using a broomstick as a cue and marbles a cue balls.
9.
Muhammad Lafir joined the Moors Islamic Cultural Home in 1947 and played friendly tournaments representing it.
10.
Muhammad Lafir then reigned the Sri Lanka National Snooker Championship from 1952 to 1973, winning 16 successive tournaments.
11.
Muhammad Lafir then participated in the Indian Snooker Championship and won it on seven occasions.
12.
Muhammad Lafir managed to defeat Indian national champion Chandra Hirjee in the 1956 and 1957 Indian Snooker Championship finals.
13.
Muhammad Lafir competed at Amateur World Championships and he finished 3rd on his debut World Championships in 1963 which was held in Calcutta.
14.
Muhammad Lafir finished at fourth position in the 1966 World Amateur Snooker Championship.
15.
Muhammad Lafir emerged as runners-up to England's Leslie Driffield at the 1967 IBSF World Billiards Championship.
16.
Muhammad Lafir again finished at third position at the 1968 World Amateur Snooker Championship and finished fourth place in the 1971 World Amateur Championship.
17.
Muhammad Lafir became the world champion in billiards in December 1973 World Amateur Billiards Championship by defeating Satish Mohan of India in the finals held in Mumbai.
18.
Muhammad Lafir had an outstanding unbeaten run in the 1973 tournament winning all nine matches and remained unbeaten in the tournament.
19.
Muhammad Lafir defeated Clive Everton, Michael Ferreira, Lu Demarco, Alfred Nolan, Eric Simmons, Brian Kirkness, Phil Tarrant and Paul Mifsud in the round robin and preliminary rounds to reach his second IBSF finals and went onto defeat Sathish Mohan in the final.
20.
Muhammad Lafir became the first Sri Lankan to win a billiards world championship and still remains as the only Sri Lankan to have won a billiards world championship title.
21.
Muhammad Lafir later served as an employee for Sri Lanka Transport Board after retiring from professional billiards.
22.
Muhammad Lafir was acknowledged by the ministers of the then government following his triumph at the 1973 World Championships.
23.
Muhammad Lafir was given a special red carpet welcome gesture on 22 December 1973 at the Katunayake International Airport following his way return to Sri Lanka after taking part in the competition.