KARACHI: The country’s leading shuttlers Murad Ali of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Olympian Mahoor Shehzad of WAPDA won the men’s and women’s singles titles, respectively, of the badminton competitions of the 34th National Games in Quetta on Friday.
In the men’s singles final, Murad Ali defeated Anjum Bashir of Army 3-0 to emerge as champion, his second straight crown in the biennial event after having also won the title in the 2019 National Games in Peshawar. The set score remained 21-15, 21-17, 21-16.
Murad was happy with the achievement. “I had worked hard for the event by spending from my own pocket and am happy with the results,” Murad told 'The News' from Quetta.
“I think I created history as no one in badminton has won two National Games titles. I dedicate the crown to my parents,” said Murad, who serves National Bank.
He said that he would now shift his focus towards Asian Games preparation.
“I will now shift my attention to the preparation for the Asian Games and there are also Olympic Qualifiers and let’s see how the things proceed,” Murad said.
In the women’s singles final, Mahoor, who represented Pakistan in the Tokyo Olympics, downed her teammate Ghazala Siddique 3-0 with the set score being 21-14, 21-14, 21-14.
The men’s doubles title went to the pair of Irfan Saeed and Azeem Sarwar of WAPDA who downed Anjum Bashir and Yasir Ali of Army 21-15, 21-14.
In the women’s doubles final, the pair of Mahoor Shahzad and Ghazala Siddique of WAPDA defeated Saima Waqas and Khizra Rasheed of WAPDA 21-14, 21-17.
The mixed doubles title went to Mohammad Ali Larosh and Ghazala Siddique of WAPDA who beat Raja Muhammad Hasnain and Ammarah Ishtiaq of Army 18-21, 21-17, 21-9.
Our Correspondent