LAHORE, Feb 8: Three Pakistanis, two men and a woman earned bronze medals in different tournaments held in Iran recently.

National champion Wajid Ali and Omer Zeeshan won the bronze in the 15th Al-Fajr badminton tournament men's doubles held in Tehran from Feb 2 to 5.

The pair reached the semifinals after beating Mussafior and Zakhaov of Kazakhstan 15-7, 15-9. Ayesha Akram claimed a bronze medal in the first Women Islamic International badminton tournament held in Tehran from Jan 26 to 29. She also entered semifinals after beating Parraneh Bahrami of Iran in the quarterfinals 11-6, 11-6.

Pakistan Badminton Federation (PBF) secretary Aamer Hayat Khan Rokhri said that the performance of the teams was creditable in the international tournaments in which eight countries participated.

He said that the PBF had sent a four-member ladies squad comprising Ayesha, Farzana Saleem and Sara Khan as players and Zarina Waqar as manager. The men's squad comprised Wajid, Omer and Rizwan Azam as players and Ghalib-ud-Din as manager.

He said that Wajid and Rizwan Azam were being sent to Germany for a two-month long training course at International badminton Federation training centre. Rizwan is the national junior champion.

This would be a unique opportunity for them as they would be trained by the World's best coaches there, he said.