Ghazala, Ali reclaim TT titles

KARACHI: WAPDA’s Ghazala Basit and Ali Faisal won women’s and men’s singles titles, respectively, at the National Table Tennis championship, which concluded at Bahawalpur on Wednesday.
Both the players reclaimed their crowns with WAPDA’s Salim Abbas being the major casualty of the event as he lost to Ali Faisal in the decider.
On Tuesday former champion Shabnam Bilal of Habib Bank Limited (HBL) had also been dethroned when she lost to Ghalia Mohsin in the pre-quarter-final.
In the women’s singles final, Ghazala played with authority and whacked former national champion Ghalia 4-2. The set scores were 9-11, 11-3, 11-7, 12-10, 7-11, 11-5.
Ghazala had defeated Raheela Kashif (HBL), while Ghalia had beaten Maleeha Khursheed (HBL) in the semi-finals.
The men’s singles final turned out to be an absorbing affair with Ali and Asim Qureshi, both employees of WAPDA, demonstrating fine skills. Ali in the end sealed a fantastic 4-3 win, making an unbelievable recovery. He had lost the first three sets, but swept the next four to reclaim the title.
The scores were 7-11, 8-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4.
The men’s doubles title also went to WAPDA. In the all-WAPDA final, the pair of Abdul Rahim and Mohammad Rameez overpowered Faryal Minhas and Hafiz Zeeshan 3-1.
In the women’s doubles final, which was an all-HBL affair, Ghalia and Maleeha Khursheed edged the pair of Shabnam and Ayesha Iqbal, both former champions. In the mixed doubles final, the pair of Asim and Ghazala defeated their teammates Salim and Ayesha 3-0.
WAPDA and HBL had defended their respective men’s and women’s team events crowns the other day. As many as 150 players from 18 teams participated in the championship. The provinces had fielded two teams each.