KARACHI, Dec 26: Wapda and Habib Bank, top seeds in the men’s and women’s team events, had a smooth sailing on the opening day of the 43rd National table tennis championship which got underway at the Islamia Club’s Majeed Khan on Monday.
Wapa was top seeded in the 14-team men team event after defending champion, Allied Bank, stayed away as its sports division ceased to exist.
Three other teams Army, PTV and OGDC, who have the playing rights, were also not competing in the country’s premier championship.
Wapda took a flying start in the men’s team event when they thrashed Railways 3-0.
Habib Bank, inflicted 3-0 defeat on Islamabad in the women team event opener. In the other matches, Sindh ‘A’ beat HEC 3-0, Punjab ‘A’ downed Sindh ‘B’ 3-0 while Wapda beat Punjab ‘B’ 3-0.
As many as 10 teams- Balochistan, Habib Bank, HEC, Islamabad, NWFP, Railways, Punjab, PWD, Wapda and Sindh were competing in the championship which is being held in the city after 13 years.
Results:
Men team event:
Sindh ‘A’ bt HEC 3-0
Kashif bt Asad 14-12, 6-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-5; Atta Abbas bt Awais 12-10, 11-2, 10-12, 11-2; Hussain bt Mohsin 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8.
Habib Bank bt Punjab ‘A’ 3-0
Yasir Bhatti bt Arshad 11-1, 11-6, 11-8; Asim Aziz bt Asim 11-8, 13-11, 11-13, 11-5; Ahmed Hussain bt Farooq 11-6, 11-9, 11-3.
Pak PWD bt Islamabad 3-0
Nadir Sohail bt Tariq Aziz 11-5, 11-5, 11-7; M. Khalid bt Farooq 12-10, 11-6, 14-12; Asif Razzak bt Waqas 12-10, 1-5, 11-3.
Wapda bt Railways 3-0
Jahangir Khan bt Awais 12-10, 11-7, 7-11, 11-5; Bilal Yasin bt Yayha 11-3, 11-6, 11-7; Faryal Minhas bt Nazim 11-9, 11-4, 11-4.
Women team event:
Sindh ‘A’ bt HEC 3-0
Maliha Khurshid bt Isra 11-1, 12-10, 11-5; Sobia bt Rabia 11-0, 11-6, 11-1; Bushra bt Saira 11-5, 11-3, 11-5.
Habib Bank bt Islamabad 3-0
Sadia bt Shazia Tariq 11-8, 11-4, 9-11, 11-2; Ghalia Khurshid bt Shazia Bibi 11-7, 11-4, 11-5; Shama Naz bt Sadia Bibi 11-3, 11-7, 11-5.
Punjab ‘A’ bt Sindh ‘B’ 3-0
Yasmin bt Maryam 11-9, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7; Kawal bt Quratul Ain 11-1, 11-4, 11-5; Rabia bt Anjilina 11-2, 11-8, 11-4.
Wapda bt Punjab 3-0
Louiza bt Sadia 12-10, 1-4, 11-9; Sanam bt Urba 11-4, 11-4, 11-8; Shabnam bt Mobin 11-7, 11-9, 11-2.
Tuesday’s fixtures:
Men’s team event, women team event league matches at 10.00am
Men’s team event (quarterfinals) at 12.00 noon
Women’s team event (quarterfinals) at 1.00pm.