India, Pakistan dominate in last eight
Favourite Laxman Rawat of India along with Ashjad Iqbal and Muhammad Bilal of Pakistan sailed into the semifinals of the Sheikh Kamal Memorial 1st SAARC Snooker Championship.
The trio won their respective quarterfinal matches at Samson H Chowdhury Centre, Dhaka Club, in the capital yesterday. Laxman Rawat had an emphatic 5-1 frames win over his Sri Lankan rival Ashiq Hussain. Ashjad Iqbal eliminated Deepak Magar of Nepal by an identical margin. Both the quarter-finals were held in the first session on day 3.
In the evening session Muhammad Bilal also did not face much resistance while beating Ankit Man Shrestha of Nepal also by 5-1 frames. Two times Bangladesh national runner-up Abdullah Al Muntaser Siddiqui, the lone survivor of home team till last eight, was playing against Sundeep Gulati till filing of this report.
On table 1, Laxman Rawat, who destroyed all his previous three counterparts with ease, continued his domination over his opponent Ashiq Hossain of Sri Lanka to win the contest by 5-1. Ashiq just managed to pip his opponent in the 5th frame on the trial black, but Laxman couldnt raise his game above on average break of 55 in the 3rd frame. The scores of the match are: Laxman/Ashiq: 63-12, 58-03, 87(55)-09, 61-41, 70-84 and 78-35.
On the other table, Ashjad Iqbal of Pakistan, who recorded the highest break of 84 so far in this competition, too enjoyed his time while playing against Deepak Magar of Nepal. He had the similar run like Rawat to beat his opponent by 5-1 with three frames to spare. The scores are: 62(40)-18, 62-53, 85(50)-08, 44-65, 74-12 and 69(62)-60.
Laxman Rawat will now face off Ashjad Iqbal in the semi-final on table-1 at the same place today at 5pm, while Bilal will face the winner of Siddiqui and Sundeep in the other semifinal.
