Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stuns Punjab in Boys U-14 Badminton Championship

Lahore: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) shocked Punjab by 3-2 in the best-of-five title clash of Inter-Provincial Boys U-14 Badminton Championship while Punjab girls clinched the team title against KP by 3-1 at SBP Nishtar Park Sports Gymnasium Hall on Thursday. Director Sports SBP Jalil Chohan was the chief guest on this occasion.

Manahil Tariq of Punjab defeated Arfa of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and won the title of Inter-Provincial U-16 Badminton Championship. She won by the score of 21-19 and 21-18.

The young players of KP exhibited excellent form and stamina in the decisive encounter and did not allow their Punjab opponents to settle down.

In the first singles, Raja Zulqarnain of Punjab toppled KP’s Ehtasham in straight sets with the score of 21-19 and 27-25. Ehtasham did his best in the second set but could not thwart in-form Raja from clinching victory.

KP team comprising Ehtasham and Hamza bounced back in the doubles and clinched the match without much trouble against Punjab’s Raja Zulqarnain and Anas by 21-15, 21-17. KP team took lead in the next singles match through Hamza who defeated Ahsen of Punjab by 21-18 and 21-16.

The Punjab leveled the score at 2 all in the fourth encounter after a walk over decision when the KP players failed to reach the venue for the important doubles clash against Ahsen and Moazzam of Punjab.

In the fifth and final clash, KP’s Basit routed Punjab’s Anas by 21-15 and 21-18. Anas regained some of his form in the second set but Basit was in ruthless mood and grabbed the set with a score of 21-18.

In the first match of Girls Badminton Team event, Punjab’s Minahal defeated KP’s Urooj by 21-10 and 21-7. Punjab doubled their lead by winning the doubles match. This time, Minahal and Zainab thrashed KP’s Aqsa and Arfa by 21-13 and 21-17. KP bounced back in the third match when Arfa beat Kainat by 21-9 and 21-17. In the fourth encounter, Punjab girls wrapped up the match quickly and won the title with doubles victory through Fiza and Kainat who defeated Urooj Ali and Urooj Ahmed of KP by 21-17 and 21-15.

Punjab, Gilgit Baltistan (GB), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan qualified for the semifinal of Inter-Provincial U-14 Hockey Championship here at National Hockey Stadium on Thursday. The first semifinal will be played between Punjab and Gilgit Baltistan while KP will face Balochistan in the second semifinal.

Punjab U-14 hockey team continued their excellent run and thrashed Balochistan by 6-0. Punjab’s M Hamza and M Kamran Asghar netted two goals apiece while Abrar Ahmed and Bilal Younis contributed one goal each for the winning team. Balochistan hockey team failed to open their account in the match.

The second match of the day ended as a draw between Fata and Gilgit Baltistan. Both the teams struck two goals apiece during the stipulated time. Faisal and Ibrar scored one goal each for Fata while M Hasnain and Asif were the scorers for Gilgit Baltistan.

KP upset Sindh by 3-1 in the last match of the day. Nabil scored two goals and Amjad ur Rehman hit the board once for winning team. Rao M Shahid netted one goal for Sindh.