February 7, 2003	Friday	Zul Hijjah 5,1423

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LAHORE, Feb 6: Top seed Hashar Bashir (Lahore) and second seed Intikhab Akram (New Khan) entered the final of the National Junior Under-19 Badminton Championship boys’ singles at the New Hall courts on Thursday.

Hashar toppled Irfan Asghar (New Khan) in straight but a well- contested first semifinal 15-12, 17-14. Hashar with his back court lob shots and cross smashing kept Irfan at bay to win the first set.

In the second set, Hashar displayed a good combination of his cross and straight shots to take a 13-7 lead in the beginning. But Irfan fought back gallantly and gained a 14-13 lead only to lose four more points in a row and the semifinal, too.

Intikhab, however, outclassed Rizwan Azam (PTCL) in the second semifinal 15-4, 15-6.

Results:

Boys’ singles (quarterfinals): Irfan Asghar (New Khan) bt Atif Nadeem (Railways) 15-3, 4-15, 15- 11. Intikhab Akram (New Khan) bt Farhan Lashari (Hyderabad) 15-4, 15-3. Hashar Bashir (Lahore) bt Ali Hafeez (PTCL) 15-12, 15-0. Rizwan Azam (PTCL) bt Ijaz Ahmad (New Khan) 6-15, 15-8, 15-9.

Semifinals: Hashar Bashir (Lahore) bt Irfan Asghar (New Khan) 15-12, 17-14. Intikhab Akram (New Khan) bt Rizwan Azam (PTCL) 15-4, 15-6.

Boys’ doubles: Hashar-Tayyab (Lahore) bt Tahir-Murad (NWFP) 15-10, 15-4. Atif- Kashif (Railways) bt Shaharyar-Ijaz (NWFP) 15-11, 15-7. Rizwan- Ali Hafeez (PTCL) bt Zahid-Aamir (Bhakhar) 15-4, 15-11. Yasir- Zohaib (Gujrat) bt Waqas-Danish (Faisalabad) 15-1, 15-6.