LAHORE: Wapda’s Awais Zahid won the men’s singles crown at the National Badminton Championships but it was Palwasha Bashir who stole the limelight with a hat-trick of titles as the tournament ended here on Sunday.

Awais came from behind to topple Rizwan Azam — also of Wapda — 17-21, 21-15, 21-12 in 40 minutes, faltering at the start as he relinquished a 10-7 lead in the first set before storming back to with fine serves and smashes to win the final.

National Bank of Pakistan’s (NBP) Palwasha, though, was the star of the show as she won the singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles.

She began her run by defending her singles title, easing past Wapda’s Mahnoor Shehzad 21-14, 21-17 before pairing up with Sara Mohmand to overpower the Wapda duo of Farzana and Saima Waqas 21-18, 21-19 in the doubles final.

Palwasha and Attique Chaudhry were tested by Irfan Saeed and Mehmuna Ameer in the mixed doubles final before prevailing 15-21, 21-14, 21-18.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2015

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