ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Shahzaib Khan and Naqsh Hamdani showed their prowess by reaching the finals in their respective categories at the Combaxx Asian Open International Taekwondo Championships here on Thursday.

Shahzaib started off by getting the better of Elwalid Mahdy Khalid 2-0 and then overcame another Egyptian, Muhib Muhammad, 2-1 in the quarter-finals before defeating Islalmov Zhakhrekan of Kazakhstan in their men’s -54kg semi-final.

Naqsh downed compatriot Fakhra Khalid in her opener of the women’s -53kg competition before outclassing Zahro Mizzare of Afghanistan in their last-four clash.

Pakistan’s Maliha Ali fell short of reaching the women’s -67kg final when she went down to Nepal’s Indra Bajneet. Indra advanced to an all-Nepal final against Basnet, who downed Nisa Hala.

Another local hope Noman lost to Ibrahim Zaki of Egypt in the quarter-final of the men’s -63kg competition. Zaki, however, lost in the semi-final stage to Iran’s Farzan Falah.

An all-Iranian semi-final of the men’s -80kg competition saw Hasan Bashiri prevail over Alireza while Kazakhstan’s Aidana downed Ana Delo of Timor Leste to reach the women’s -46 kg final.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2022