KARACHI, Aug 11 Prolific scorer Akmal steered District South 'W' to a nail-biting 54-49 victory over District East 'W' on the opening day of the 3rd NBP President's Cup basketball tournament at the Arambagh floodlit court on Monday night.

Akmal produced an awesome performance and emerged as top scorer with 26 points. He also brought the team out of 22-25 arrears they suffered at the half time. He was ably assisted by Sultan Habib who scored eight points.

For the losers, Ghani-ur-Rehman top scored with 17. Haroon and Shabbar scored 13 points apiece.

Earlier, District South 'G' posted a 60-39 victory over District Central. The winners led 30-22 at the breather.

Ahad (19) and Fahad (14) were prominent for the winners as Idris and Sameer scored nine and eight respectively for the losers.

Semi-finals will be held on Aug 17 while the final is fixed for Aug 18.

Group 'A' Habib Bank, District East 'G', District South 'W', District East 'W' and Hyderabad.

Group 'B' District South 'G', District Central, Mirpurkhas, District Malir and Sindh Police.