ISLAMABAD, April 26: Pakistan No 1 Umer Zeeshan and Wajid Ali advanced to the men’s singles final of the 51st National badminton championship at the Rodham Hall on Saturday.

The defending champion Ayesha Akram and Sara Khan made it to the women’s singles final.

Umer Zeeshan of Wapda beat defending champion Ahsan Qamar of PIA 21-17, 21-17.

In the other semi-final, Wajid Ali (Wapda) overcame Rizwan Azam of National Bank 23-25, 21-12, 21-8.

Ayesha knocked out fellow National Bank player Sara Mohmand 21-17, 21-17.

The second semi-final was also an all-NBP affair as Sara Khan dumped Palwasha Basheer 21-11, 21-12.

The finals — men’s singles (4:30 pm), women’s singles (5:15 pm) and men’s doubles (6:00 pm) — will be played on Sunday.

Results of the matches played on Friday night:

Women’s doubles semi-finals: Ayesha Akram / Palwasha (NBP) bt Uzma Butt / Saima Waqas (Wapda) 21-14, 21-16; Sara Mohmand / Sara Khan (NBP) bt Aneeka Rana / Sadia (Wapda) 21-14, 21-15.

Men’s doubles quarter-finals: Amir Islam / Imran Mohib (Wapda) bt Ali Yaar / Tahir Ishaq 21-18, 21-16; Wajid Ali / Ahsan Qamar bt Rizwan Rana (Wapda) 21-17, 21-14; Zeeshan / Zafar (Wapda) bt Nabeel / Zohaib (RLY) 21-19, 21-18; Attique / Rizwan Azam bt Waqas Ahmed / Kashif Sulehri 21-11, 21-15.

Veteran’s singles semi-finals: Nadeem Javed (Wapda) bt Habib Alam (NK) 21-17, 14-21, 21-8; Tahir Javed (Wapda) bt Tahir Ishaq (Wapda) 21-11, 21-14.

Mixed doubles semi-finals: Palwasha Basheer / Attique Chaudhry bt Uzma Butt / Atif Nadeem 21-19, 21-9; Sadia / Imran Mohib (Wapda) bt Farzana Ali / Wajid Ali (Wapda) 21-18, 21-18.

Veteran’s doubles semi-finals: Tahir Javed / Habib Alam bt Tariq Shaheed / Imtiaz Gill 21-12, 14-21, 21-14; Nadeem Zafar / Khwaja Iqbal (NK) bt Nadeem Javed / Naveed Javed (Wapda) 21-17, 21-18.—APP