KARACHI, May 21: Wapda lived up to their reputation when they performed a hat trick, by retaining the men’s team event title in the 48th National badminton championships at the National Sports Training and Coaching Centre (NSTCC) on Saturday.
Second seed Wapda brushed aside third seed New Khan Sports straight 3-0 to retain the men’s team event crown for the third successive year.
Earlier, Railways pulled off the first major upset when they edged out top seed National Bank 3-2 in the quarterfinals played in the morning.
In the one-sided men’s final, International Wajid Ali, who is also the reigning national champion, put Wapda in front when he beat Nabeel 15-4, 15-3.
The pair of internationals Rizwan Rana and Umer Zeeshan made it 2-0 beating the duo of Noman and Qasim 15-11, 15-5. Amir Islam overcame Muhammad Ali 15-11, 15-7 to seal the fate of New Khan Sports.
Results:
Men’s team event (quarter finals)
Punjab bt Sindh 3-2
Ahsan bt Faisal 15-5, 15-12, Ahsan and Ali bt Ali Yar and Shahzad 15-7, 15-9. Shahzad bt Qadir 15-4, 15-13; Kashif and Waqas bt Khawja and Amir 15-7, 11-15, 15-5; Ali Yar bt Mujeeb 12-15, 15-8, 15-9
New Khan Sports bt KPT 3-1
Shabbar bt Tariq Mahmood 15-9, 15-4; Asad and Tariq bt N. Zafar and Nabeel 15-2, 15, 17-15; Muhammad Ali bt Anees 9-15, 15-9, 15-10; Noman and Shabbar bt Anees and Iftikhar 15-12, 15-6.
Wapda bt PTCL 3-0
Wajid Ali bt Akram Masih 15-9, 15-5; Zeeshan and Rizwan bt Ashraf and Akram 15-11, 15-5 Zeeshan bt Arshad Khan 15-3, 15-5,
Railways bt National Bank 3-2
Atif Nadeem bt Aminul haq 15-5, 15-6; Naveed and Shahid bt Hashir and Intikhab 12-15, 15-13, 15-9; Naveed bt Harrison Brent 15-12, 15-11; Ajaz and Atif bt Nushraq and Amin 15-3, 15-7; Mushtaq Ahmed bt Hashir Bashir 17-15, 15-13
Semifinals: Wapda bt Punjab 3-0
Umer Zeeshan bt Faisal Sarwar 15-1, 15-5; Tahir and Waqas bt Ali Yar and Shahzad 9-15, 15-13, 15-0; Zafar Tasneem bt Shahzad 15-7, 15-5
New Khan Sports bt Railways 3-0
Shabbar bt Mushtaq 10-15, 15-5, 15-5; Noman and Wasim bt Mushtaq and Amin 15-1, 15-2; Nabeel bt Shahid 15-12, 15-3
Final
Wapda bt New Khan Sports 3-0
Wajid Ali bt Nabeel 15-4, 1-3, Rizwan and Zeeshan bt Noman and Qasim 15-11, 15-5 Amir Islam bt Muhammad Ali 15-11, 15-7.