March 19, 2007	Monday	Safar 29, 1428

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LAHORE, March 18: Waqas Zahid (Army) and Marukh Isa (Sindh) emerged as national U-19 champions in the boys’ and girls’ category winning their respective finals in the national junior badminton championship at Iqbal Park Sports Complex on Sunday.

Waqas outclassed Ali Mehdi (Sindh) in a one-sided final with the score being 23-21, 21-13 to annex the title.

Waqas spent only 35 minutes on the court to show his mettle as halpless Ali Mehdi failed to match his skill and stamina to lose the final, tamely, after putting up good resistance in the first game.

Marukh Isa proved too good against Monihsa (Sindh) to complete a win in great style. The score in Marukh's favour was 21-11,21-12.

Arsalan Khan (Lahore) lifted the boys U-16 Cup, as he recovered back to beat a spirited rival Hafiz Irfan in final with the score being 19-21,21-19,21-11.

Sindh, added another crown to its feather when Monisha struggled to beat Danya (Islamabad) to win girls –U-16 final, which was stretched to three games with the score being 14-21,21-18,21-16.

Waqas Zahid-Taimoor (FSD) beat Ali Mehdi-Zaran Ghazali to win the boys U-19 doubles' final. The score was 21-15,21-10. Awais-Taimoor (FSD) beat Hafiz Irfan -Arsalan Khan (LHR) to win boys U-16 doubles' final 21-19,21-14.

Marukh Isa with Amna (Sindh)was richer by another crown, after beating the pair of Aqsa Razaq-Anam Bilal (Lhr) to win the girls U-19 doubles' final 21-14,19-21,21-9. Khizra Rasheed-Anam beat Sidra-Danya in Girls U-16 final 23-21,27-25.

Results of semi-finals played on last night:

Boys U-16 singles.

Arsalan Khan (Lhr) bt Hasan Zaidi (Sindh) 21-18,21-15; Hafiz Irfan (Lhr) bt Taimoor (Fsd) 21-18/21-17.

Boys U-16 Doubles semi-finals.

Irfan-Arsalan (Lhr) bt Adil Haseeb-Amir Saeed 21-17,21-19; Awaise Zahid-Taimoor (Fsd) bt Arsalan-Sajid (Burewala) 21-7,16-21,21-15.

Boys U-19 singles semi-final.

Waqas Zahid (Army) bt Hafiz Irfan (Lhr) 21-10,21-12; Ali Mehdi (Sindh) bt Arsalan Khan (Lhr)21-16,21-13.

Boys U-19 doubles semi-final.

Waqas Zahid-Taimoor (Fsd) bt Arsalan Khan-M.Bilal (Lhr) 21-10,21-11; Ali Mehdi -Zaran Ghazali (Sindh) bt Irfan-Bilal Rabbani (Lhr) 23-21,21-14.

Girls U-16 single semi-final.

Danya (Islamabad) bt Khizra Rasheed (Islamabad) 21-16,17-21,21-19; Monisha (Sindh) bt Anam Bilal (Lhr) 21-17,12-21,21-19.

Girls U-19 doubles semi-final:

Monisha (Sindh) bt Aqsa Razaq (Lhr) 21-16/21-17; Marukh Isa (Sindh) bt Sidra Hameed (Islamabad) 21-10,21-9.

Girls U-16 double semi-final:

Sidra-Danya (Islamabad) bt Mahwish-Humaira Raees (Sindh) 21-13,21-10;

Anam-Khizra (Islamabad) bt Amna Khan-Monisha (Sindh) 21-15,21-15.