Awais, Palwasha clinch badminton titles

KARACHI: Awais Zahid and Palwasha Bashir won men’s and women’s singles crowns, respectively, as the National Badminton championship concluded at the Punjab University’s gymnasium on Sunday.
Awais of WAPDA defeated two-time champion Rizwan Azam of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) 2-1 to clinch the first title of his career.
After losing the first set, Faisalabad-born Awais fought back and swept the next two sets 21-15, 21-12 to wear the crown.
Palwasha of NBP got the better of Mahnoor Shehzad of WAPDA 2-0 to defend the women’s singles title.
The set scores were 21-14, 21-17. Karachi-based Palwasha won triple crown in the slots as she also won titles in women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
The pair of Palwasha and Sara Mohmand of NBP outgunned WAPDA’s Saima Waqas and Farzana Ali 2-0 in the final 21-18, 21-19. In mixed doubles, Atiq Chaudhry and Palwasha snatched a 2-1 win over Memoona and Hafiz Irfan Saeed of WAPDA 17-21, 21-16, 21-15.
In men’s doubles, Kashif Sulehri and Rizwan Azam of NBP overpowered Awais Zahid and Atiq Chaudhry of WAPDA 2-0. The scores were 21-17 and 21-15.
NBP had won the men’s team event and WAPDA had clinched the women’s team event crown. The organsiers announced that the national ranking tournament would be held in Lahore from October 21-25.
Pakistan Badminton Federation (PBF) joint secretary Tayyab Sohail told ‘The News’ on Sunday that during the slots the PBF executive committee meeting would also be held in which various key issues would be discussed.
He said the PBF would soon launch preparation for the South Asian Games, which are expected to be held in India in January.
“We are in contact with the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and will soon hold the camp,” Sohail said.
This was after four years that a National Championship was organsied. The 53rd National Championship had been organised by the PBF’s Nazar Gondal group in 2011 in Islamabad. After a long battle, the Rokhri group was declared legal.
The PBF headed by former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa information minister Mian Iftikhar is recognised by both Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and the PSB.