KARACHI: After being shocked by Malir Trojans in their group B opening fixture, Nishtar Club carved out an authoritative 54-28 victory over youthful Munawwar Abbasi Club in the Kashmir Day basketball tournament at the Arambagh floodlit court on Thursday.

With the defeat which is third in-a-row, Munawwar Abbasi Club is out of reckoning of making it to the last four. Earlier, they had lost to Arambagh Club and Askari Alphas. They play their last match against Malir Trojans on Saturday.

Talha Amjad excelled with 20 and was followed by Asad Ali 12 and Ali Chanzeb eight for the winners.

Hassan Ali scored eight while his sibling Ahmed Ali contributed six for the losers.

Meanwhile, the Malir Trojans has emerged as a strong contender for securing a berth in the semis after registering an exciting 48-35 victory over Arambagh Club in the second match of the day.

The winners maintained their pace with brisk scoring particularly, through the trio of Maj Imran Tehseen (12), Babar (11) and Ali Raza (10).

Playing at their own court, Arambagh Club should curse themselves for wasting chances and failing to live up to the mark.

Taha top scored with 10 while Fazeel Ahmed and Raj Kumar ended up with nine and eight respectively.

This was Arambagh Club’s first defeat in two outings. Earlier, they had defeated Munawwar Abbasi Club. The defeat has deepened Arambagh Club’s chances of qualifying for the semi-final.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2018