Pakistan win badminton doubles crown in Nepal

KARACHI: Pakistan won the men’s double crown when they defeated Indian shuttlers in the final of the Annapurna International Badminton Championship in Kathmandu on Wednesday night.

Pakistani pair of Hafiz Irfan Saeed and Azeem Sarwar did a fine job to gift Pakistan an international crown after a long gap. Pakistan Badminton Federation (PBF) secretary and former international Chaudhry Wajid Ali was happy with the achievement. “It is a welcome win. We are making efforts to promote badminton in the country,” Wajid said.

He said that it was a BWF sanctioned event in which Pakistan had succeeded. Wajid said that Pakistan planned to hold an international event in October in Islamabad. “We will be trying to bring in 17 to 18 nations to the event. I hope we will be able to stage a grand show. Such tournaments are necessary for development of the players,” Wajid said.

He said that one month before the event Pakistan would try to hire the services of a Japanese coach.“A Malaysian coach recently served Pakistan for two months. The Japanese coach will also be hired for a short duration. Our young lot is to go to Indonesia on July 22,” Wajid said.He said that the federation had been trying to provide exposure to the players. Meanwhile, Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) congratulated PBF on the title victory.