January 24, 2003	Friday	Ziqa’ad 20, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 23: The Asian Badminton Confederation (ABC) has given approval to Pakistan to stage a six-nation tournament in Islamabad this October.

The head of the Pakistan Badminton Federation (PBF), Saiyed Mohib Asad told a news conference Thursday that it will be the first time that such a tournament will be staged in the country.

“The ABC has never included Pakistan on its circuit in the past, so to have given approval for such an event is a big honour for us,” he said.

The tournament that will run between Oct 13-18 will be hosted at the Rodham Hall in the premises of the Pakistan Sports Complex. “A decision on the participating teams has not made yet.”

Mohib said that the PBF was giving a lot of importance to the training of junior players and in this connection, a Pakistani team will participate in the Asian Junior Championships in Singapore this fall.

A national junior tournament to be organised between Feb 4-7 in Lahore will form basis for the selection of the squad for the Singapore event. besides a ranking tournament in late April is also planned.

A six-member party, comprising four men and two women players, meanwhile will be heading for Tehran for the Fajr International Tournament due to take place from Feb 2-5.

Mohib, elected the PBF president in elections held last July also highlighted the performance of the Pakistani teams in recent international tournaments.

“Our boys took part in an event in Colombo in November where all of them reached the quarterfinals while the doubles pair of Umer Zeeshan and Rizwan Rana made the semis.”

Also in November, Pakistan competed in the JVC Asian Badminton Championships in Bangkok where all the players -Wajid Ali, Umar Zeeshan, Waqas Ahmed and Rizwan Rana qualified for the main round while the doubles team of Umar and Rizwan reached the last 16.

Mohib pointed out that a Pakistan delegation of Aamer Hayat Rokhri and S. Naqi Mohsin attended the annual general meeting of the ABC, again in November, for the first time in nine years. “The improved performance of our players was greatly appreciated by the house.”

Mohib also spoke about Pakistan’s chances in the upcoming SAF Games that Islamabad is due to host. “We are hoping to win quite a few medals because our players have been preparing hard for the Games.”

As many as 10 male players and eight women are attending the SAF Games training camp. Omer Zeeshan, Waqas Ahmed, Rizwan Rana, Ahsan Qamar, Ashraf Masih, Zafar Tasneem, Amir Islam, Tariq Mehmood, Tahir Ishaq, Ayesah Akram, Asma Butt, Uzma Butt, Farzana Saleem, Farzana Shaheen, Shazia Naureen, Myra Abbasi and Sara Khan are the players undergoing training for the March 29 to April 7 Games.

Meanwhile a decision on staging of the National Championship would be made on Feb 8 during a meeting of the PBF. “Rahim Yar Khan, Karachi and Hyderabad have all shown interest in hosting the championship,” Mohib disclosed.