LAHORE, July 18: Defending champions Wapda and New Khan marched into the finals of the 8th Ameer Abdullah Khan Rokri badminton tournament men’s team event at the New Khan Hall on Monday. Wapda booked their berth after eliminating Punjab 3-2. Mohammad Waqas gave Wapda a flying start beating Khalid Aziz 15-8, 15-4 in the first singles.

Punjab struck back when its pair Shahzad and Khalid worked hard to earn a notable victory against professionals Imran and Rizwan 15-10, 15-12 to restore parity 1-1.

Dominating further, Punjab created further problems for the reigning champion when Shahzad outplayed Imran 15-12, 15-10 in the second singles to take 2-1 lead. It was one of the toughest matches and upcoming Shahzad showed his mettle.

However, Wapda staged a comeback when international Aamir Islam with Zafar managed to equalise winning the second doubles against Kashif and Naeem 15-7, 15-8. In the all important reverse singles Zafar Tasnim of Wapda led from the word go against Kashif 15-7, 15-5 to avert any upset. New Khan ousted a strong National Bank of Pakistan in the second prefinals 3-1.

Hashir Bashir smashed upcoming Qasim Khan 15-11, 15-9 to give the bankers 1-0 lead.

But New Khan stole the limelight winning the remaining three ties to move into the final with great confidence. Nauman Sikandar and Nabeel made it 1-1 winning the doubles against Ijaz and Intikhab 15-11, 15-3.

Shabbar Hussain recovered to put New Khan 2-1 ahead beating Atif Nadeem 11-15, 15-6, 15-11.

In the gruelling first game, Shabbar matched Atif till nine-all but later made unforced errors, allowing his rival to win. But Shabbar showed his true class in the remaining two games to seal the fate of the match.

In the second doubles, Shabbar with Nadeem Zafar excelled beating Hashir and Atif 15-5, 15-10 completing the win in style.

Earlier, late on Sunday night, NBP beat Islamabad 3-0 in the quarterifnals.

In another quarterfinals, New Khan ousted PTCL 3-1.

Results: