KARACHI: Quaid-e-Azam XI beat Shaheed-e-Millat XI 42-38 in the Kids Independence Day exhibition basketball match during the ongoing Independence Day Basketball Festival being organised by the Karachi Basketball Association at the International Abdul Nasir basketball court in Arambagh on Friday night.

For the winners, it was the brothers’ duo of Saad Salahuddin and Rafay Salahuddin who led Quaid-e-Azam to a thrilling success. Saad and Rafay scored magnificent 12 points each while M Maaz scored another valuable 11 points for the winners.

For the losing side, Yash Kumar scored 11 points while M Daniyal Khan scored 10 points. Zaid and Haji Mazhar Ali scored 8 points each.

Earlier, SSP South Shiraz Nazir who was the chief guest on the occasion declared open the event.

Speaking on the occasion, he announced that South police will sponsor the One-Day Basketball Festival at the same venue in September. He also announced to sponsor the Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup Basketball in December.

Shiraz further said that the City police, particularly the District South Police department, is giving special attention towards promotion of sports so that the directives of CM Murad Ali Shah and IG Sindh Syed Kalim Imam regarding promotion of sports can be fulfilled. He also expressed solidarity with the Kashmiri brethren and said Kashmir issue must be solved according the UN resolution so that the Indian atrocities in Kashmir should come to an end.

KBBA President Ghulam Muhammad Khan and Shahida Parveen Kiani also spoke on the occasion. SOA VP Engineer Mehfoozul Haq, Muhammad Yaqoob, Abdul Nasir and others were also present on the occasion.

Later, a karate band led by Karate Master Jannat Gul held a demo to express solidarity with Kashmiri brethren at the venue, demanding an end to the human rights violations by Indian forces in the held valley.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2019