KARACHI: Pakistani cueists won back-to-back matches to set up an all-Pakistan final in the inaugural South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) snooker championship at Dhaka on Thursday.

According to results available here, Asjad Iqbal and Mohammad Bilal thwarted the Indian challenge in contrasting semi-finals triumphs to make the title clash an all-Pakistan affair on the Bangladesh soil.

Asjad carved out 6-4 frames victory over Laxman Rawat (38-78, 73-27, 116-14, 68-18, 53-9, 43-101, 21-67, 32-63, 76-37, 74-40). The victory include a splendid break of 87 in the third frame. Asjad’s contemporary Bilal blanked Sundeep Gulati straight 6-0 (53-51, 100-17, 77-71, 78-38, 74-27, 62-11) that envisaged two breaks of 62 and 51 in the second and fifth frames.

Earlier, Asjad conjured up 5-1 victory over Deepak Magar of Nepal while Bilal too defeated Nepalese A M Shrestha by identical scoreline of 5-1.

The best of 13 frames final between Asjad and Bilal will be played on Friday. The winner gets a purse of US $2500 while runner-up receives US $1500.

Results:

Asjad Iqbal bt Laxman Rawat (India) 6-4 (38-78, 73-27, 116-14, 68-18, 53-9, 43-101, 21-67, 32-63, 76-37, 74-40); Mohammad Bilal bt Sundeep Gulati (India) 6-0 (53-51, 100-17, 77-71, 78-38, 74-27, 62-11).

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2019