At the 61st National Badminton Championships held in Lahore, Murad Ali and Mahoor Shahzad emerged as the men’s and women’s singles champions.
In the men’s singles final, Murad Ali, hailing from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, delivered a strong performance against Anjum Bashir of the Army, securing the title in two competitive sets with scores of 21-19 and 21-18. Meanwhile, in the women’s singles, Mahoor Shahzad of Wapda proved her mettle by defeating teammate Ghazala Siddique in a tense and closely contested match, winning 21-16 and 22-20 to claim the championship.
Mahoor Shahzad’s victory sees her secure the National Championship title for an eighth consecutive time. The badminton starlet’s achievement is doubly amazing when considering the fact that doctors recommended that she take a break from training for four months to rest, as she recently welcomed the birth of her baby girl.
The doubles events were equally thrilling, with Raja Muhammad Hasnain and Raja Zulqarnain Haider from the Army taking the men’s doubles title. They defeated the pair of Murad Ali and Azeem Sarwar from Wapda in straight sets, 21-11 and 21-13. In the women’s doubles, Saima Waqas of Wapda and Ammarah Ishtiaq from the Army triumphed after a tough three-set battle against Palwasha Bashir and Ghazala Siddique. They came from behind to win 10-21, 21-17, and 21-16.
The mixed doubles event also saw fierce competition, with M Ali Larosh of Wapda and Zubaira Islam of SNGPL emerging as champions. They edged out Zunain Javed and Palwasha Bashir in a tightly contested final, winning 21-19, 21-19.