KARACHI: A quartet of teams — KMC, PPL, SBP, Habib Metro — stormed into men’s team event semi-finals in the Young Stars Inter-firms table tennis tournament at the Sindh Sports Board sports complex on Wednesday.

KMC outplayed State Life 3-0 and now takes on SBP after the latter accounted for GSK 3-2 in the other encounter.

In other matches, PPL brushed aside SBP’s second string 3-0 and is drawn to face Habib Metro in the semis. The bankers inflicted 3-1 defeat on PSO.

Meanwhile, the men’s singles and doubles also commenced on Wednesday. Top seed Asim Hussain has got a bye in the first round.

Men’s team event:

Quarter-finals:KMC bt State Life 3-0 (Khawar bt M. Momin 11-5, 9-11, 11-3, 11-7, Raheel bt M. Ubaid 11-4, 11-6, 11-6, Saleem bt Azam Ali 14-12, 11-5, 12-10).

PPL bt SBP B 3-0 (Salman bt M. Khalid Khan 11-8, 11-5, 11-9, Momin bt Israr Alam 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-4, Azhar bt Asim Ahmed 12-10, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8).

SBP a bt GSK 3-2 (Anwar lost to Asim Hussain 5-11, 3-11, 2-11, Hamza bt Junaid 13-11, 11-5, 11-5, Ahmed bt Yousuf 11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 12-10, Hamza lost to Yousuf 7-11, 9-11, 8-11, Anwar bt Junaid 12-10, 14-16, 11-8, 11-9).

Habib Metro bt PSO 3-1 (Ahmed Pesnani bt A. H. Bhatti 12-10, 14-16, 11-8, 11-9, Muzammil bt Salman Iqbal 11-5, 11-5, 11-2, Asad lost to Zubair Qureshi 6-11, 7-11, 5-11, Muzammil bt A. H. Bhatti 12-10, 11-3, 7-11, 11-4).

Men’s singles:First round: Shaheryar Ahmed (Etilise) bt Azam Ali (State Life) 11-6, 11-7, 11-7; Momin Khan (PPL) bt Kamran (Hino Pak) 11-3, 11-6, 11-6; Suleman Haider (PPL) bt Salman Ahmed (Etilise) 11-2, 12-10, 8-11, 11-4; Hamza Malik (SBP) bt Wasio Abbasi (TPS) 11-4, 11-3, 11-4; Yousuf Hussain (GSK) bt Abdul Wahid (State Life) 11-8, 9-11, 11-1, 11-7; Israr Alam (SBP) bt Masood Shah (PPL) 8-11, 11-6, 12-10, 17-15; Anwar Ahmed (SBP) bt Asad Saeed (HMB) 11-4, 11-5, 11-6; Umair Asim (TPS) bt Umer Daraz (PPL) 11-9, 11-8, 11-9.

Men’s doubles:First round: Asim Hussain and Yousuf (GSK) bt Anis and Majid (Etilise) 11-5, 11-3, 11-6; Ahmed Mukhtar and Anwar (SBP) bt Shahzad and Nadeem 11-4, 15-13, 11-3; Farhan and Asad (HMB) bt Azam Ali and Yameen (SL) 11-8, 11-9, 11-6; Salman and Zubair (PSO) bt Shaheryar and Salman (Etilise) 11-8, 11-6, 11-5; M. Umair and Usman Naqvi (TPS) bt A. H. Bhatti and Atif Hussain 11-8, 11-9, 11-8; Momin and Suleman (PPL) bt Umair and Asim (TPS) 11-8, 11-5, 11-6.

Published in Dawn, September 18th , 2014