Salman, Rahim in TT final

KARACHI: Young guns Salman Virk and Abdul Rahim blasted their way into the men’s singles final of the All Pakistan Masters Cup Table Tennis Tournament here at Islamia Club on Monday.
In the semi-finals, Salman of Railways defeated Shujaat Ali of WAPDA 4-3, while Rahim of WAPDA edged his teammate Fahim Raza 4-1 to stroll into the decider to be held on Tuesday (today).
Earlier, Virk had overcome Kamran Sarang of Sindh and Rahim had overpowered his teammate and former national champion Bilal Yasin in the quarter-finals.
In the other quarter-finals, Fahim Raza of WAPDA had overwhelmed Tabish Khursheed of Sindh 4-0 and Shujaat Ali of WAPDA had outgunned Bilal Tariq of Sindh 4-2.
Reigning national champion Ghalia Mohsin and former champion Shabnam Bilal reached the final of the women’s singles.
Ghalia of Habib Bank Limited (HBL) defeated former national champion Ayesha Iqbal of WAPDA 4-3 in the semi-final 11-5, 8-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 3-11, 11-8.
Shabnam of HBL whacked Abeera Ali of Sindh 11-5, 11-4, 11-2, 11-3 to cruise into the final.
Pakistan Sports Board’s (PSB) Director General Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera will grace the closing ceremony on Tuesday (today). After this event, five more Masters Cups are in the pipeline this year.