Murad, Mahoor earns National Badminton titles
NBP’s Murad Ali and Mahoor Shahzad from WAPDA surfaced the new men and women national champions after winning the finals in the 55th National Badminton championship.
Murad Ali defeated WAPDA’s Irfan Saeed in a 40 minutes match by 21-13, 21-18. Ifran who outplayed defending champion form Awais Zahid from WAPDA in the semifinal stage, could not resist longer in front of Murad Ali. Both the players had international experience but Murad dominated Irfan throughout the match. In the first set, Murad easily outplayed Irfan but in the second set, Irfan tried his luck but he could not stand longer in front of Murad’s powerful serves and smashes and Murad wraps up the match to win the Men’s singles title.
Mahoor was also in top form and she easily defeated the veteran Palwasha Bashir from NBP by 21-13. After the first set loss, fitness level of Palwasha went down and she could not continue her game that makes Mahoor the women national badminton champion.
Although Irfan was unable to lift the men’s singles title but he along with his partner Azeem Sarwar seals the Men’s double title to their name after defeating Atique Chawdhary and Husnain from WAPDA in a hard fought 3 set game by 21-14, 21-13, 25, 23. Atique and Husnain were humbled by Irfan and Azeem in the first set but after that they faced tough resistance from the opponents but they kept their cool and won the match and the title.
NBP’s Palwasha and Sara Mohmand outplayed SNGPL’s Ghazala Siddiqui and Zubaira in the straight sets by 21-16-21-9 to win the women doubles title.
SNGPL’s Irfan and Ghazala won the mixed doubles title after beating Rizwan Azam and Sara Mohmand by 21-17, 21-14.
President Pakistan Olympic Association Lt. Gen. (retd) Arif Hasan was the chief guest and he distributed cash prizes worth Rs.200, 000 among the toppers of each event.
Results
Men Singles - Final
| 1 | Murad Ali | def. | Irfan Saeed | 21-13, 21-18 |
Women Singles - Final
| 1 | Mahoor Shahzad | def. | Palwasha Bashir | 21-13, Retired |
Men’s Doubles - Final
| 1 | Irfan Saeed-Azeem Sarwar (Wapda) | def. | Attique Chowdhury-Raja Hasnain (Wapda) | 21-14, 21-23, 25-23 |
Women's Doubles - Final
| 1 | Palwasha Bashir-Sara Mohmand (NBP) | def. | Ghazala Siddique-Zubaira (SNGPL) | 21-16, 21-9 |
Mixed Doubles - Final
| 1 | Irfan Saeed (Wapda)-Ghazala (SNGPL) | def. | Rizwan Azam-Sara Mohmand (NBP) | 21-17, 21-14 |
