September 11, 2002	Wednesday	Rajab 3, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

LAHORE, Sept 10: New Khan Sports Board and PTCL marched into the final of the All Pakistan Ranking Badminton Tournament after registering easy victories in the semifinals Monday.

NKSB thrashed the strong Allied Bank (ABL) team 3-0. Shabbar Hussain gave NKSB 1-0 lead when he defeated seasoned Haroon Kaleem 15-10, 15-11 in the first singles.

National champion Wajid Ali consolidated the lead (2-0). He made short work of Shoaib Butt 15-4, 15-8. In the doubles, a good fight was registered with the NKSB’s pair of Nauman and Imran Mohib notching up victory against former national champion Ali Yar Beg and his partner Akhtar Abbas 15-12, 15-10.

In the second prefinal, PTCL outplayed Balochistan 3-0.

Omer Zeeshan drew first blood for the winners, toppling Kashif 15-12, 15-1. In the second singles, Ashraf Masih beat Mehboob 17-14, 15-6 to make it 2-0. Then Rizwan and Arshad Khan thrashed Aurangzeb and Zeeshan 15-7, 15-8 to earn a place in the final.

In the women team’s event, PIA and Wapda entered the final.

PIA defeated NKSB 2-0, while Wapda blasted Balochistan 2-0.