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| May 26, 2005 | Thursday | Rabi-us-Sani 17, 1426 |
Aysha-Saima pair dethrone champions
KARACHI, May 25: The top-seed pair of Aysha Akram - Saima Manzoor has done NBP proud when they dethroned holders Asma Butt-Uzma Butt of Wapda to annex the women’s doubles title in the 48th National badminton championship at the National Sports Training and Coaching centre (NSTCC) on Wednesday.
It was yet another day of upsets as men’s singles defending champion and top-seed, Wajid Ali of Wapda was sent packing by his team-mate and third seed, Omar Zeeshan in a two hour gruelling semifinal 7-15, 15-11 and 15-13.
Zeeshan will now face second seed Ahsan Qamar who had a straight 15-13, 15-10 victory over fourth seed, Waqas Ahmad in the other semifinal.
In the action packed women’s doubles final, Aysha-Saima had an impressive start taking the first game without any difficulty 15-5.
However, Asma-Uzma who had earlier teamed up to retain the women’s team event crown outwitting NBP 3-1, displayed some good drop shots to level the score one-all taking the second game 15-11. In the decisive game, Aysha-Saima maintained their lead before wrapping up 15-8.
Earlier, international Omar Zeeshan interrupted Wajid Ali’s four-year unbeaten run in the men’s singles of the country’s premier badminton championship by ousting him in the fully extended battle lasting two hours.
The two shuttlers remained engaged in long rallies. After dropping the opener 7-15, Zeeshan never looked back and staged a remarkable recovery to win the following two games 15-11, 15-13 and the match.
Ahsan, the Quetta National Games men’s singles champion, had the better of Waqas Ahmad 15-13, 15-10.
The all-NBP women’s singles semifinal between Aysha Akram and Sara Khan went to full distance as experience prevailed over the youth. Sara, 16, a first year Arts student of the DHA college, surprised the pundits by taking the opener 11-6.
However, Aysha stormed back to level the score one-all winning the second game 11-4. Aysha trailing 6-8 in the third game bounced back not only to level the score but to clinch the game 11-8 and the match.
Aysha will take on Asma Butt in the women’s singles final Thursday as the latter booked a beth by getting walk-over against her sister Uzma.
Nadeem Javed of Wapda annexed the veteran’s singles title beating Khawaja Iqbal of Sindh 15-9, 15-2. The veteran’s doubles title went to the duo of Imtiaz Gill-Tariq, also of Wapda, who had 17-16, 15-6 prevailing over Nadeem-Fayyaz.
The men’s singles, women’s singles and men’s doubles finals will be played Thursday starting at 4.00 p.m.
Results:
Men’s singles (semifinals): Omar Zeeshan (Wapda) bt Wajid Ali (Wapda)7-15, 15-11, 15-13; Ahsan Qamar (PIA) bt Waqas Ahmad (Wapda) 15-13, 15-10.
Women’s singles (semifinals): Aysha Akram (NBP) bt Sara Khan (NBP) 6-11, 11-4, 11-8; Asma Butt (Wapda) w/o Uzma Butt (Wapda).
Women’s doubles (final): Aysha Akram-Saima Manzoor (NBP) bt Asma Butt-Uzma Butt (Wapda) 15-5, 9-15, 15-8.
Men’s doubles (semifinals): Tahir Ishaq-Waqas Ahmad (Wapda) bt Omar Zeeshan-Rizwan (Wapda) 15-2, 9-15, 15-8.
Veteran’s singles (final): Nadeem Javed (Wapda) bt Khawaja Iqbal (Sindh) 15-9, 15-2.
Veteran’s doubles (final): Imtiaz Gill-Tariq (Wapda) bt Nadeem-Fayyaz (Wapda) 17-16, 15-6.
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