ISLAMABAD: Top seed Haris Tahir and unseeded Umer Farooq reached the final of the Jubilee Insurance U-21 National Championship on Wednesday.

Haris and Umer, both of Punjab, beat Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Saad Khan and also Umer Khan — also Punjab’s — respectively.

In the first semi-final top seed Haris beat Saad 5-2 (30-62, 80-5, 85-6 (85), 71-24, 72-34, 15-64, 75-41). He also recorded a break of 85 in the third frame. Umer beat his namesake from Sargodha 5-2 (31-60, 53-38, 62-15, 42-53, 79-32, 51-40, 73-1).

Earlier, in the quarter-finals unseeded Saad defeated sixth seed and Islamabad champion Imran Khan while unseeded Umer Farooq outclassed Punjab’s topper Sheikh Mudasir.

Results:

Semi-finals: Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Saad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 5-2 (30-62, 80-5, 85-6(85), 71-24, 72-34, 15-64, 75-41); Umer Farooq (Punjab) bt Muhammad Umer Khan (Punjab) 5-2 (31-60, 53-38, 62-15, 42-53, 79-32, 51-40, 73-1).

Quarter-finals: Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Shahzaib Malik (Punjab) 4-2 (60-38, 45-49, 50-41, 67-54, 33-46, 82-43); Saad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Imran Khan (Islamabad) 4-2 (27-47, 63-35, 65-2, 34-68, 68-23, 65-40); Umer Farooq (Punjab) bt Sheikh Muhammad Mudassir (Punjab) 4-2 (26-64, 16-73, 53-43, 49-7, 62-9, 66-35); Mohammad Umer Khan (Punjab) bt Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) 4-0 (70-63, 60-27, 69-33, 55-21).

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2020