South Asian soccer semis today

Prince Gunasekara reporting from Pakistan

KARACHI. The two semifinals of the South Asian football championships will take place at the People's Stadium in Karachi today. India will take on the Maldives in the first semifinal and Bangladesh will meet Pakistan in the second semifinal.

India who have won the title on three occasions are strong favourites to reach the final having maintained an unbeaten record in the tournament. They beat Bhutan and Nepal and were held to a draw by Bangladesh in their preliminary round fixture.

The Maldives were the runners-up in last year's tournament and finished on top of group 'A' having defeated Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Bangladesh who were the runners-up in the Gold Cup tournament last year will face stiff opposition from the host nation Pakistan.