Peshawar
A 17-year-old Qari Adnan of KP handed an upsetting defeat to his aged rival and current National Junior Champion Raja Zulqarnain of NBP in a marathon three sets final of the U-18 National Junior Boys and Girls Badminton Championship played at Abbottabad Sports Complex on Wednesday.
MNA Ali Khan Jadoon was the chief guest on this occasion. Commissioner Hazara Division Syed Zaheer Ul Islam, DC Abbottabad Amir Afaq, President KP Badminton Association Zafar Ali Shah, Secretary Haji Amjad Khan, Organizing Secretary Syed Saddaqat Shah, national coaches Nadeem Khan and Hayat Ullah, Nazim Abbottabad Col. (Retd) Sardar Shabbir, District Sports Waseem Afzal, District Abbottabad Badminton Association President Ustad Zaman, officials, players and large number of spectators were also present.
The final match between Qari Adnan and his aged rival Zulqarnain provided great thrill for the jam-packed spectators in the indoor hall as both delighted the sitting spectators with their forceful smashes. Qari Adnan, the current national U-16 Champion, played well against defending champion Raja Zulqarnain, who won this title in Oct 2018 in Lahore.
Qari Adnan and Zulqarnain played well and gave each other a tough fight. Zulqarnain won the first set by 18-21 after a good overhead smashes and some good work at the net but he failed to click in the second and third set when Qari Adnan staged a strong comeback and marched into victory at 21-19 and 21-19. KP Coaches Nadeem Khan and Hayat Ullah were also jubilant over the victory of Umar and Qari Adnan winning U-16 and U-18 singles and U-18 doubles with Adnan and Zubair as pair.—APP
