January 27, 2006	Friday	Zilhaj 26, 1426

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LAHORE, Jan 26: Wapda earned its second crown in the National badminton championship, retaining the men’s team event title, defeating NBP 3-0 in the finals on Thursday.

Wapda had also defeated NBP in the women’s finals the other day to defend the title.

Omar Zeeshan gave Wapda an impressive start winning the first singles. He appeared to be in a hurry, disposing off Hashar Bashir 15-4, 15-2 in 30 minutes.

Aamir Islam, pairing with Imran doubled Wapda’s lead but only after a nail-biting win against Hashar and Ijaz 4-15, 17-14, 17-15.

Aamir and Imran, who made a number of unforced errors in the first, did not repeat it in the second, but even then, they faced a resolute fight from Hashar and Ijaz, who struggled till the last moment.

Fighting for each point, the pairs matched each other several times to be tied at 12-all.

Wapda increased the lead to 14-12 and were only one point away to consolidate the grip on the finals, but again found the rivals catching up 14-14. However, Wapda, proved its supremacy and clinched three winners to go ahead 2-0 in the match.

Hashar and Ijaz gave another enduring fight to Aamir and Imran in the third game before losing. The winning pair had taken 9-5 lead but were caught up by the losers at 11-11. However, Aamir and Imran wrapped up the win with better stamina and technique to take 2-0 lead in the finals.

Pakistan No.1 Wajid Ali beat Atif Nadeem in straight games 15-9, 15-12.

Twelve matches in the men’s singles were also decided on Thursday.

Results:

Men team’s event final.

Wapda beat NBP 3-0.

Omar Zeeshan bt Hashar Bashir 15-4, 15-2; Aamir Islam-Imran bt Hashar-Ijaz 4-15, 17-14, 17-15; Wajid Ali bt Atif Nadeem 15-9, 15-12.

Men’s singles (qualifying round, each match of one game apiece):

Shujaat Ahmed bt Jahanzeb 15-2; Aamir Hussain bt Irfan 15-0; Arslan Jan bt Fazal Ghani 15-2; Arshad Khan bt Ajab Gul 15-12; Zaheer Khan Zeeshan 15-0; Mansoor bt Amin 15-7; Abdul Islam bt Mohammad Hasan 15-0; Faraz Tariq bt Hasan Junior 15-10; Salman Rehan bt Ali 15-4; Zaidan Ghazali bt Hasan Ali 15-13; Muhammad Usman bt Awais 15-0.