July 25, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 24, 1424

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KARACHI, July 24: After the league phase of the Under-19 Youth Asia Cup was badly disrupted by inclement weather, possibly the four best outfits are now left in contention for one Youth World Cup spot.

Nepal had an easy ride going into Friday’s semifinals with an unbeaten record in Pool ‘A’. Not surprisingly, the Nepalese are overwhelming favourites to reach their second straight World Cup, having done exceedingly well in the last tournament hosted by New Zealand almost eighteen months ago.

But in cricket upsets happen when least expected and Nepal are not going to take Kuwait lightly in their semifinal clash at National Stadium.

Nepal started the tournament in emphatic fashion when they amassed 391 for four against the Maldives, who went down by a huge margin of 344 runs in the most one-sided game of the 10-team competition.

Kuwait booked their place in the last four from Pool ‘B’ when they got the better of their nearest rivals Oman in the final league match to finish runners-up behind Malaysia. This was an upset of sort because the Omanis were regarded as one of the fancied teams.

The other semifinal at Quaid-i-Azam Cricket Park in Steel Town is more likely to provide drama because Qatar, the underdogs, fancy their prospects against Pool ‘B’ winners Malaysia.

On the other hand, the Malaysians, under the guidance of national coach Gary Hayes, an Australian, have the potential to go all the way.

Qatar, the Pool ‘A’ runners-up, were trifle lucky to be the semifinals because their preliminary round fixtures against Nepal and United Arab Emirates (UAE) were washed out and the points were shared — a calamity that ruined UAE’s aspirations so cruelly in the end.