Qasim, Shamama in bantamweight semifinals

LAHORE: Army's Mohammad Qasim and Punjab's Shamama Rehman blasted their way into the men's bantamweight (51-54kg) semi-finals of the boxing event of the 34th National Games at the Abrar Hussain Gymnasium in Quetta on Monday.

Qasim, a prolific fighter of Army, downed Sheraz of Navy 5-0, while Shamama of Punjab downed Mehroz Ali of PAF 5-0 after a fantastic fight. Meanwhile, in the other quarter-finals of the same weight category, Jalal Uddin of WAPDA conquered Sindh's Hamid 5-0 after a tough fight in front of the jam-packed venue, while Noor Ali of Balochistan downed Ashraf Khan of HEC in the first round via RSC.

Meanwhile, in the men's featherweight quarter-finals, Naqeebullah of WAPDA defeated Mohammad Waseem of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 5-0, Asmatullah of HEC whacked Basil Rana of Punjab 5-0 and Sikandar Mirza of Army got the better of Khayal Mohammad of Railways 5-0.

In the fourth quarter-final of the same weight category, Zakir Hussain of Army beat Aurangzeb of Navy 4-1. In the women's minimum weight quarter-finals, Sehrish Shehzad of PAF defeated Afsheen Javed of KP 5-0, Nimra of WAPDA defeated Warda Rafih of Sindh in the second round via RSC, Natasha Urooj of Navy beat Areeba Ameer of Punjab in the second round via RSC and Huma Mumtaz of HEC got the better of Ummul Banin of Army 3-2.

Softball: In women's softball event, Army and WAPDA qualified for the final after defeating their respective rivals convincingly. In the first semi-final, WAPDA downed HEC by 14-1. WAPDA'S Noreena, Iqra and Irum scored two runs each while Hani, Saiqa, Anila, Sidra and Ayesha scored one run each. Madina also played well and scored three valuable runs. In reply, for HEC Samra scored one run.

Army's Attiya, Humaira, Mayda, Rashida, Asia, Ansa, Waheeda and Benish scored two runs each while Zahida scored one run. Zahida and Ansa scored home run inside the park. In the final to be held on Tuesday (today), Army will clash with WAPDA while the third position match will be played between HEC and Balochistan.

Only women teams are featuring in the softball event of the biennial spectacle.

Football: WAPDA began their title defence journey with a slim 1-0 win over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in their Group A show of the men's football event at the Ayub Stadium in Quetta on Monday.

Zahid Majeed struck the winner for WAPDA in the 64th minute. In the other game, HEC surprised Navy by 1-0 with Inam Rabbani scoring the winner in the 34th minute.

In the women football event, WAPDA downed HEC 2-1. Anmol put HEC ahead in the 15th minute. However, ten minutes later, Sanober levelled the score for WAPDA. Aliya then hit the winner for WAPDA in the 75th minute.

In the other game, Army bulldozed Balochistan 7-0 thanks to a double each from Hajra and Rameen. Malika, Koshnan and Roshnan scored a goal apiece. Handball: WAPDA defeated HEC 30-5 in the women's handball event. Army's women downed Police 27-3 while Punjab's women defeated Gilgit Baltistan 24-1. In other matches, KP thumped GB 14-2; Army crushed Punjab 21-9; police demolished GB 11-1.