July 01, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 26, 1429

LAHORE, June 30: National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) will face Wapda in the women’s group final of the Amir Abdullah Khan Rokri Badminton tournament while Wapda will face Punjab in the men’s semi-finals of the tournament.

The women bankers comfortably beat Punjab 3-0 in a series of lopsided match-ups. Sara Khan, defending her women’s singles title, led the charge defeating her opponent Maryam 21-8, 21-8. Sara Mohmand beat Anum 21-5, 21-2, while in the double’s competition Ayesha Akram and Palwasha Basheer beat Asia and Iram 21-7, 21-3.

In the second, more closely-contested semi-final, Wapda beat Railways 3-0. Aneeqa Rana beat Sidra Hameed by 21-15, 21-13, Sadia Arshad beat Khizra by 21-10, 21-18, and the doubles duo of Farzana Ali and Uzma Butt beat Yasmeen and Sumaira by 21-10, 21-14.

In the men’s competition, Wapda beat PMAD by 3-0 in the 1st quarter-final. Defending men’s singles champion Umer Zeeshan beat M.Ali by 21-15, 21-4, while teammate Hashir Basheer beat M.Ali Mirza by 21-16, 21-11. In the doubles, Zafar and M. Atiq beat M.Ali and Asif Hussain by 21-18, 21-17. Punjab, meanwhile, beat Railways 3-0 in the second quarter-final. Waqas Ahmed beat P.A Nabeel by 21-18, 18-21, 21-17 M.Naveed beat Imran Laeeq by 21-19, 22-20, and

Shafique and M. Naveed overcame a shaky start to beat Shahid and Waqas Zahid 16-21, 21-18, 21-19. The tournament ends on July 6 and winners of each category take home Rs130,000.