Bahawalpur lift NBP T20 Grade I Blind Cricket Trophy

ATTOCK: Bahawalpur, displaying a superb performance, stunned Lahore in the final to lift the NBP T-20 Blind Cricket Trophy here at the Attock Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

Lahore after winning the toss sent in Bahawalpur to bat. Captain Zafar Iqbal’s polished innings of 84 and Moeen Aslam’s fine 73 helped Bahawalpur reach a competitive total of 229 for 4 in 20 overs. Matiullah and Kamran Akhter claimed one wicket each.

Lahore started their innings well but the early dismissal of Kamran Akhter and Matiullah put Lahore on the back foot and they could only manage to get 206 for 6. Amir Ashfaq and Salman scored 70 and 38 runs respectively. Muhammad Shahzeb and Babar Ali shared a wicket apiece as Bahawalpur won by 23 runs to become the champion team of Grade-1 Trophy.

Syed Sultan Shah, Chairman Pakistan Blind Cricket Council, was the chief guest alongside Zahida Hamid, Additional Head, National Bank of Pakistan Rawalpindi and gave away the prizes to the players and teams. Also present were NBP’ Attock’s Marziha Saleem, Syed Salman Bukhari Director Cricket Operations PBCC.

Player of the Tournament for the B1 category was rewarded to Muhammad Salman (Lahore), B2 Nisar Ali (Azad Kashmir), and B3 to Muhammad Akram from (Gujranwala). Ismael Shah was declared the best wicketkeeper of the tournament.—Shiraz Asif

Lahore Garrison Greens win inter-club golf

LAHORE: The Lahore Garrison Greens team won the Punjab Golf Association Inter-Club Golf Championship of Punjab at the Lahore Garrison Greens Golf Course on Wednesday.

Teams comprising 16 members each from Defence Raya Golf Club, Rawalpindi Golf Club and Lahore Garrison Greens took part in the event whose format required each club team comprise of two golf professionals, four amateurs, two junior professionals, two junior boys, two junior girls, two ladies and two senior amateurs.

The Lahore Garrison Greens had top professionals Matloob Ahmed and Mohammad Shahzad while their amateurs — Tariq Mehmood, Nouman Ilyas ,retired Col M. Shafi and Damil Ataullah — and senior amateurs — Rustam Ali Chatta and Asif Mehdi — also gave top performances.

Winning points were also added by the their ladies, Ghazala Yasmin and Suneya Osama and the junior girls Hadiya Osama and Bushra Fatima as Lahore Garrison Greens finished with 2600 points ahead of Defence Raya (2717) and Rawalpindi (2900).

They now enter the finals of the National Inter-Club Championship, scheduled to start from Friday.—Sports Reporter

Three matches decided in Jinnah Gold Cup

LAHORE: FG Polo, Diamond Paints and Master Paints carved out victories as three more matches were held in the Master Paints Jinnah Gold Cup here at the Jinnah Polo and Country Club (JP&CC) ground on Wednesday.

In one of the closest matchest, four goals each by Francisco Bensadon and Amirreza Behboudi and a brace from Mian Abbas Mukhtar helped FG Polo outlast BN Polo 10-8. Tito Ruiz Guinazu slammed in four goals, while Raja Mikail Sami and Eulogio Celestino converted two goals each for BN Polo.

Five goals from Raul Laplacette and two each from Ramiro Zaveletta and Saqib Khan Khakwani steered Diamond Paints to a thumping 9-5 win over Master Paints Blacks, for whom Mariano Raigal scored a hat-trick.

Marcos Panelo also scored five while Juan Cruz Losada and Farooq Amin Sufi also added three and two goals respectively as Master Paints overwhelmed Risala 10½-5. For Risala, Dylan Rossiter hit in a hat-trick and Pedro Guitierrez Ofarell contributed two goals.—Sports Reporter

Lahore Division emerge winners

LAHORE: With 125 points, Lahore Division came out as winners in inaugural Quaid-i-Azam Inter-Division Powerlifting (Female) and Table Tennis (Male) Championship.

The Men’s Weightlifting title went to Gujranwala Division, which also obtained 125 points.

In powerlifting, Lahore finished ahead of Faisalabad (59 points), Sargodha (54), Bahawalpur (30), Gujranwala (27), Sahiwal (16), DG Khan (11), Multan (2) and Rawalpindi (1).

In weightlifting, Gujranwala ended ahead of Lahore (106), Faisalabad (78), Sahiwal (34), Sargodha (15), Multan (14), DG Khan (3) and Bahawalpur (2).—Sports Reporter

Semi-final line-up decided

KARACHI: The semi-final line-up has been drawn in the inaugural U-17 Sindh Cup Snooker that commenced at the local parlour on Wednesday.

The competition, first of the new provincial setup, has received few entries and will conclude on Thursday.

The last-four includes Hasnain, M. Akib, S. Anas Zafar and Hanzila.

Results:

First round: Hasnain bt Imad Rafiq 3-0 (56-18, 40-28, 56-22).

Second round: Hasnain bt Haroon Saleem 3-2 (23-45, 54-22, 45-48, 44-30, 54-16); M. Akib bt M. Hadi Siddiqui 3-1 (28-40, 48-12, 62-22, 56-14); S. Anas Zafar bt Saad Khan 3-1 (50-57, 66-32, 47-32, 44-26); Hanzila bt M. Usman 3-2 (56-18, 40-48, 48-14, 23-45, 58-14).

Thursday’s fixtures:

Semi-finals at 10am: Hasnain vs M. Akib, S. Anas Zafar vs Hanzila.

Final at 2pm.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2021