KARACHI: Indian coach Subash Agrawal has advocated the revival of snooker Peace Cup besides bilateral exchanges of the teams of other sports between the two nations.

“The exchanges of teams suit the two nations and can bridge the gap,” Agrawal, who is here on his second visit, told Dawn on the sidelines of the world 6-Reds and team snooker championship.

Agrawal whose elder brother late O. B. Agrawal had won the world billiards championship at Dublin in 1984 said the snooker Peace Cup which has not taken place since long needs to be revived. A recipient of Arjuna award, the highest sports award of India, O. B Agrawal died at the age of 39 in 1994.

He remembers his last visit to the city sometime in 1988-89 as a player. A native of Mumbai, he said he feels at home as both the cities have many similarities.

Talking about his team’s performance in the event, he said, he was “fully satisfied”.

“Cue sports were popular in India and there are a number of clubs that promotes it,” Agrawal, who is associated with Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) for the last 12 years said.

Formerly an Indian Railways employee, he said the department patronises sports in a big way.

“Unfortunately, they don’t have women’s cue sports team so far,” he remarked.

Referring to women’s 6-Reds final, Agrawal added that he was expecting an all-India clash “but things didn’t go in our favour.”

With Pankaj retaining the men’s 6-Reds title and Vidya Pillai finishing runner-up in women’s 6-Reds, he looks optimistic that in the presence of other teams, India will prove their mettle in men’s and master’s teams events.

He commended the performance of Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif and Asad Iqbal for putting up courageous performance before losing in semi-finals 4-5.