Awais, Rizwan clash in badminton final

KARACHI: Awais Zahid of WAPDA and Rizwan Azam of National Bank of Pakistan on Saturday qualified for the men’s singles final of the National Badminton championship at the Punjab University’s badminton gymnasium.
In the first semi-final, Awais stunned former champion Wajid Ali of SNGPL 2-0 with the set scores of 21-14, 21-13. In the other semi-final, Rizwan whacked Azeem Sarwar of WAPDA, also 2-0. The set scores were 21-12, 21-15. The final will be held on Sunday (today).
Earlier, a major upset was seen in the quarter-finals when Murad Ali of NBP, the defending champion and country’s best player, lost to Azeem. The scores were 13-21, 25-23, 21-18 in Azeem’s favour. In the other quarter-finals, Wajid had defeated Shabbar Hussain of WAPDA 21-10, 21-16; Awais had whacked Abdur Rehman of SNGPL 21-12, 21-13; and Rizwan had defeated Irfan Saeed of WAPDA 21-11, 21-14.