LAHORE: Mohammad Shah Khan and Hoor Fawad clinched titles of men’s and women’s singles, respectively, as the 59th National Table Tennis Championships concluded here at the Nishtar Park on Wednesday.
In the men’s singles final, Shah Khan of Army defeated former national champion Asim Qureshi of WAPDA 4-0. This is Shah Khan’s third title win.
In the women’s singles final Hoor Fawad of Army defeated her teammate Haiqa Hassan 4-3. This is Hoor’s second title win.
The men’s singles final between Shah Khan and Asim Qureshi turned out to be a one-sided affair. Highly experienced Asim’s reflexes seemed a bit low which gave ample opportunity to Shah Khan to play aggressively and seal a convincing 4-0 win.
The set score was 11-5, 13-11, 11-5, 11-4.
Earlier in the semi-finals, Shah defeated Abbas Amjad of Army 4-2 with the set score of 11-8, 10-12, 11-7, 7-11, 11-2, 11-3 while Asim whacked Taimur Khan of HEC 4-0 with the game score being 11-5, 11-6, 11-6, 12-10.
In the quarter-finals, Shah beat his teammate Faizan Zahoor 4-0 while Asim conquered Obaid Shah of HEC 4-1. The women’s singles final between Hoor Fawad and Haiqa Hassan turned out to be a close contest with the former emerging victorious 4-3 to defend her title.
After losing the first set 2-11, Hoor, who belongs to Karachi, recovered quickly and won the second set 13-11 to make it 1-1. However Haiqa, who also belongs to Karachi, won the third set 3-11 to take 2-1 lead. Hoor, then, once again brought parity with an 11-7 victory in the fourth set. However, Haiqa brought discipline in herself and won the fifth set 12-10 to once again take a lead of 3-2. However, at this stage Hoor demonstrated a lot of focus and won the next two sets 13-11, 11-8 to seal a superb win.
The set score remained 2-11, 13-11, 3-11, 11-7, 10-12, 13-11, 11-8 in favour of Hoor Fawad.
In the semi-finals, Haiqa defeated Fatima Khan of Chromatex Chemicals 11-7, 11-9, 11-4, 12-14, 11-7 while Hoor downed Perniya Zaman Khan of WAPDA 4-3 with the set score of 7-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9, 5-11, 11-6.
In the quarter-finals, Hoor had defeated Saba Mushtaq of Army 4-2 while Haiqa Hassan had downed Mehmooda Haider of WAPDA 4-0.
The men’s doubles title was won by Army’s pair of Shah Khan and Faizan Zahoor who defeated Obaid Shah and Taimur Khan of HEC 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9.
Earlier in the semi-finals the pair of Obaid and Taimur downed Army’s Abdal and Noor 11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9 while Shah Khan and Faizan conquered WAPDA’s pair of Haseeb and Abbas 11-9, 11-2, 11-5 to qualify for the final.
In the women’s doubles final Haiqa Hassan and Hoor Fawad of Army defeated WAPDA’s Ayesha Sharjeel and Perniya Zaman Khan of WAPDA 3-1 to win the title. The game score was 7-11, 11-4, 13-11, 11-6.
Earlier in the semi-finals Haiqa and Hoor downed Mubeen and Anam of WAPDA 11-4, 11-6, 11-1 while WAPDA’s Perniya Zaman Khan and Ayesha beat Army’s Saba Mushtaq and Sana Muzaffar 11-6, 4-11, 11-7, 11-8 to make it to the final. The mixed doubles crown went to former Pakistan No2 Mohammad Awais and Kulsoom Khan of Punjab who defeated Army’s pair of Mohammad Shah Khan and Haiqa Hassan with the set score being 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9.
Alam Zeb Safi Alam Zeb Safi is a senior reporter for The News