MINGORA: Shahid Ahmad displaying impressive form and fantastic shuttle game clinched Swat Peace Badminton Championship after scoring emphatic 21-10, 21-19 victory against better-fancied Khayam Shah in the final on Sunday.

On the other hand, men’s doubles duo Yahya Khan and Khayam won the title as they outplayed Zafar Ali and Shahid Ahmad duo 21-18, 13-21, 21-16 amid a roaring applause during the doubles match.

In the U-14 final, Hasnain Ahmad trounced Haroon Khan 21-10, 21-15 while Younis and Khurshid duo won the title after defeating the pair of Azim Khan and Javed 21-15, 21-17in the veteran doubles’ final.

On the occasion, jubilant Shahid said that he was just ecstatic after winning the Peace Badminton Championship for the first time. “I am really grateful to Zafar Ali Kaka and other elders who showed confidence in me by sending me to Malaysia for one month training where professional trainers polished my skills to a great extent,” he told Dawn.

Swat Bar Association president Hazrat Maaz who was chief guest on the occasion said that there was a great potential for sports in Swat. “The valley is fertile in talent as it has produced people like Malala Yousafzai apart from players who served the country in cricket, hockey, football and other sports,” the chief guest said while congratulating the winners.

Also, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Badminton Federation president Zafar Ali Kaka said that he wanted Swat players to play on national and international level for which he along with his other friends collected donations and sent some players from Swat to Malaysia for training.

“Today I am glad that the three players we had sent abroad for training are playing on national level,” he said, adding that his talent hunt in badminton would continue.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2016