June 11, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 06, 1429

KARACHI, June 10: The semi-finals of the 7th South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship will be played on Wednesday, according to a message received here on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka, who topped in Group ‘B’ after beating Bangladesh 1-0 on Sunday, now have a great chance to take revenge for their semi-final loss against Maldives in the championship’s 1997 edition in Kathmandu.

Maldives will be flying to Colombo to face archrivals Sri Lanka in the second semi-final to be played at the Sugathadasa Stadium there.

Maldives and Sri Lanka’s last meeting in the competition happened in the group stage at Karachi in 2005 when Maldives won 2-0.

Meanwhile giant-killers Bhutan, who lost all their six matches before the current event, will be travelling to Maldives to meet title-holders India in the first semi-final to be played at Male’s Rasmee Dhandu Stadium.

Bhutan bagged a shocking 3-1 win over Klaus Stark’s Afghanistan, whom many were sure would be getting a semi-final berth.

The 15-match show is being sponsored by World Sports Group (WSG) of Singapore who have agreed to offer prizes worth US$95,000. The winners will be collecting $50,000 and the runners-up $25,000 while the losing sides in the semis are to pocket $10,000 each.

The previous six editions of the SAFF championship have seen India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as the only three nations to have won the tournament.

Pakistan, meanwhile, crashed out of the championship after three back-to-back defeats last week.—APP