Pakistan & India summit clash in semis of SAARC snooker championship 2019

The inaugural South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) snooker championship that commenced at Dhaka seems to be a two-horse race between Pakistan and India as other nations lacked standard.  

Both the Pakistanis cueists Asjad Iqbal and Mohammad Bilal and as many Indians Laxman Rawat and Sandeep Gulati have stormed into the semifinals.

Asjad would face Laxman Rawat of India while Bilal will be up against Sundeep Gulati also of India in the semifinals to be decided on best of 11.

Asjad chalked up a 5-1 victory over Nepal’s Deepak Magar (62-18, 62-58, 85-08(50), 44-65, 74-12, 69-60(62)) for second straight triumph so does Bilal who sent A M Shrestha of Nepal packing straight 5-1 (76-26, 73-13, 75-28, 74-07, 45-58, 59-13).

In the other quarterfinals, Laxman Rawat of India beat Ashiq Hussain of Sri Lanka by 5-1 (63-12, 58-03, 87-09, 60-41, 70-84, 78-35) while Sundeep Gulati of India) beat M A Siddiqui of Bangladesh 5-3 (97-0(86), 22-73(59), 57-45, 64-37, 60-69, 66-51, 32-65, 74-32).

Teams from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are participating in the tournament titled ‘Sheikh Kamal Memorial 1st SAARC Snooker Championship-2019’ sponsored by Beximco Group, one of the leading business conglomerates in Bangladesh.

The champion of the tournament would receive a cash prize of USD 2,500 and the runner-up will get USD 1,500, while the two losing semifinalists will earn USD 500 each.