LAHORE: The Men and Women’s singles events of the 55th National Badminton Championships entered the quarter-finals stage here on Tuesday.

While Azeem Sarwar and Hashir Bashir, both from Wapda, went to the third set to win against their respective rivals, six other pre-quarterfinals were decided in straight ways.

Azeem fought hard against Soban Jamil, also from Wapda with the score being 21-19, 11-21 and 21-12. International Hashir ousted Amir Saeed of Wapda with scores of 21-13, 19-21 and 21-15.

Overall, the players from Wapda dominated in the pre-quarterfinals as 11 belonged to it out of a total of 16 competitors. Six Wapda men have made the last eight, while the other two are Muteeb Sohail (HEC) and Murad Ali (NBP).

In women’s singles too, five winners are from Wapda out of a total of seven pre-quarterfinalists.

Huma Javed of Wapda and Ghazala Siddique of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) stretched to the third set to win their respective singles to move forward. While Huma powered her way to topple Aneela Irshad (Wapda) after losing the first set to complete the victory with the score line of 16-21, 21-16 and 21-15. Ghazala drafted a 16-21, 21-19 and 21-18 win against Sara Mohmand (NBP).

Results:

Men’s singles pre-quarterfinals:

Irfan Saeed (Wapda) beat Raja Hasnain (Wapda) 21-15, 21-14; Abdur Rehman (Wapda) beat Ali Larosh (SNGPL) 22-20, 21-11; Awais Zahid (Wapda) beat Waqas Ahmad (Wapda) 21-13, 21-9;

Azeem Sarwar (Wapda) beat Soban Jamil (Wapda) 21-19, 11-21, 21-12; Ali Mehdi (Wapda) beat Ahsan Asif (Wapda) by 21-15, 21-11; Hashir Bashir (Wapda) beat Amir Saeed (Wapda) 21-13, 19-21, 21-15; Muteeb Sohail (HEC) beat Anjum Bashir (SNGPL) 21-15, 21-9; Murad Ali (NBP) beat Muqeet Tahir (HEC) 21-11, 21-14.

Women’s singles pre-quarterfinals:

Hina Insabat (Wapda) beat Manaal Tariq (Army) 21-7, 21-15; Bushra Qayyum (Wapda) beat Mehmoona (Wapda) 21-14, 21-7; Sehra Akram (Wapda) beat Javeria Tahir (SNGPL) 21-9, 21-17; Ghazala Siddique (SNGPL) beat Sara Mohmand (NBP) 16-21, 21-19, 21-18; Mahoor Shahzad (Wapda) beat Saba Rasheed (Wapda) 21-10, 21-6; Zubaira (SNGPL) beat Maryam (Sindh) 21-7, 21-3; Huma Javed (Wapda) beat Aneela Irshad (Wapda) 16-21, 21-16, 21-15.

The results of Tuesday’s matches are as follows:

Men’s doubles (1st round):

Irfan-Azeem (Wapda) beat Harrison-Daanyaal Ali (NBP) 21-13, 21-8; Rohan-Rohail (Punjab) beat Waqas-Aoun (Wapda) 21-25, 21-17; Larosh-Noman (SNGPL) beat Masood-Tahir (Police) 19-21, 21-12, 21-10; Waqas-Aoun (Wapda) beat Nadeem & Waseem (RLY) by 21-17, 21-13;

Ali Nawab-Abdur Rehman (Wapda) beat Tariq-Asad (KPT) 21-16, 21-16; Anjum-Shahmeer (SNGPL) beat Raja Zulqarnain-Ahmar (Punjab) 21-12, 16-21, 21-19; Muqeet-Uaakeph (HEC) beat Shahab-Shujaat (ISL) 21-16, 21-10; Shehroz-Gohar (Wapda) beat Ali-Umer Zeeshan (Wapda) 21-16, 21-18; Rizwan-Kashif (NBP) beat Abuzar-Ali (HEC) 21-18, 21-13; Irfan-Zunain (Wapda) beat Shabbar-Tahir (Wapda) 21-18, 21-17; Attique-Hussnain (Wapda) beat Rizwan-Tehseen (Wapda) 21-14, 21-8.

Women’s doubles (first round):

Sidra-Javeria (SNGPL) beat Aqsa-Sehar (Balochistan) 21-8, 21-6; Kousar-Aqsa (HEC) beat Shumaila-Ayesha (Sindh) 21-6, 21-3; Hina-Nida (Wapda) beat Abida-Maria (Balochistan) by 21-6, 21-11; Maryam-Sumaira (Wapda) beat Anmol-Rida (Army) 21-7, 21-17; Kainat-Yasmeen (Army) beat Muntaha-Zainab (Army) 21-14, 21-14.

Mixed doubles (1st round):

Ali Nawab-Rosheen (Wapda) beat Wajid-Kainat (Army) 21-8, 21-10; Irfan (Wapda)-Ghazala (SNGPL) beat Hayyan-Aqsa (HEC) 21-12, 21-14; Azeem-Saba (Wapda) beat Iqra-Shujaat (ISl) 21-9, 21-14; Zohaib-Aneeqa (Wapda) beat Awais Zahid-Huma (Wapda) 21-15, 21-18; Zunain-Mehmoona (Wapda) beat Shahmeer-Javeria (SNGPL) 22-20, 21-19; Noman-Zainab (SNGPL) beat Haider-Bakhtawar (RLY) 21-13, 21-12; Ali Chishty-Rida (Isl) beat Aoun-Anmol (Wapda) 21-15, 19-21, 21-17; Ammar-Khadija (HEC) beat Uzair-Alja (Isl) 25-23, 21-17;

Mixed doubles pre-quarterfinals:

Waqas-Saima beat Rizwan-Maryam 21-9, 21-11; Irfan-Ghazala beat Ali-Rosheen 21-13, 21-15; Azeem-Saba beat Zohaib-Aneeqa 21-12, 21-19; Zunain-Mehmoona beat Larosh-Nida 21-16, 21-15; Attique-Manaal beat Noman-Zainab 21-16, 21-7. Rizwan-Sara beat Ammar-Khadija 21-9, 21-7.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2018