February 8, 2003	Saturday	Zul Hijjah 6,1423

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LAHORE, Feb 7: Intikhab Akram (New Khan) defeated Hashar Bashir (Lahore) to win the National Under-19 badminton championship boys’ singles event after a two set final at the New Khan courts on Friday.

Intikhab won 15-13, 15-5.

The first was was closely contested as Intikhab with his superb lob shots and cross drops earned points to gain 11-4 lead.

Hashar put up a good fight and braced the game to restore the parity at 13-13. But Intikhab denied Hashar any further chances taking two winners to win the first set.

The winner completely dominated the second set with powerful smashes winning the set easily 15-5.

In the doubles’ final, Intikhab and Shahzad lost to Atif Nadeem and Kashif (Railways) 15-6, 17-15.

Atif and Kashif, won the first set easily, but they faced a strong challenge in the second as the score was tied at 14-14. Atif and Kashif dropped just one more point to grab the set and won the final.