The sporting activities are in full swing in the Hills District. As soon as the 2nd Easylink Badminton Competition concluded, another competition was announced by Faisal Shamsi of P B Harrison & Co. The tournament started from end of August that was played in a different format from the previous two competitions sponsored by Easylink group . This time, two groups were formed based on the players’ game levels – The CHAMPIONS Group included Altaf Khan, Amjad Ali, Faheem Jafar, Badar Farrukh, Habib Rehman & Shahid Malik while The MASTERS Group consists of Muhammad Asif, Faisal Shamsi, Israr Choudary, Khurram Mughal, Naveed Anwar, Shahid Mian, Tariq Riaz & Zeeshan Iqbal. For the first time within these two groups, players were free to choose their doubles partners that resulted in highly competitive teams playing with great harmony displaying true grit and determination throughout the competition.
Stretched to 4 weeks, the Competition stared on Thursday 31 August with MASTERS Group playing doubles matches. At the conclusion of a very competitive round robin stage to determine the teams’ standing, Semi Finals were played on Best of Three (Bo3) basis between Team#1: Israr/Tariq vs Team#4: Naveed/Zeeshan and Team#2: Asif/Faisal vs Team#3: Khurram/Shahid. Once again, the matches were very close to call and after a great fight, Israr/Tariq and Asif/Faisal reached the MASTERS Doubles Final.
CHAMPIONS Group opened their account playing Singles matches. As expected, the competition in this group was too fierce and too close to call. It was not surprising when three players Amjad, Faheem and Shahid ended up scoring the same points after the round robin stage and the For/Against system was applied to determine the players’ standing. Semi Finals were played on Bo3 basis between #1: Shahid vs #4: Altaf and #2: Faheem vs #3: Amjad, which Shahid and Faheem won in straight sets to reach CHAMPIONS Singles Final. The Bo5 Final match between Shahid and Faheem, both favourite to lift the trophy was an epic encounter. Fiercely contested with long rallies for each and every point, the match went the distance with 19-all in the fifth game when the reigning singles champion Shahid held his nerve and scored the last two points winning the match and become CHAMPION of CHAMPIONS – claiming the Singles title three years in a row.
The MASTERS Singles competition was a highly competitive affair and once again For/Against system was used to determine the first four spots. Semi Finals were played between #1: Israr vs #4: Faisal and #2: Asif vs #3: Zeeshan. It was a good fight but in the end Israr and Asif won in straight sets to reach MASTERS Singles Final. Asif gave a good fight in the Bo5 final but Israr was too strong for him and won the match in straight set to become CHAMPION of MASTERS.
The CHAMPIONS Doubles round robin was again very closely contested affair where Altaf/Shahid beat Faheem/Farrukh to qualify for Finals only after the Count-Back system was applied as both teams scored the same points and had the same For/Against difference. The Semi Final between Amjad/Habib and Faheem/Farrukh was again a very tight match which went the distance. In the end, Faheem/Farrukh won this Bo3 match 2-1 to face Altaf/Shahid in the final.
The Doubles Finals were played on Sep 28, in front of a good crowd that came to cheer all the teams. First the MASTERS final was played. Asif/Faisal played very well and each game went to the last point but Israr/Tariq proved too strong in the end and won the Bo5 match in straight games and claimed the title of DOUBLES CHAMPIONS of MASTERS.
The CHAMPIONS double final was yet another memorable match that went to distance. Both the teams played excellent badminton that was thoroughly acknowledged and applauded by the cheering crowd. In the fifth game, the pendulum swung many times from one team to another and just when it looked certain that one team will win, the other came back strong and claimed the lead. This marathon match finally ended on 26/24 with Faheem/Farrukh winning the game and the match from Altaf/Shahid and claimed the title of DOUBLES CHAMPION of CHAMPIONS.
The prize distribution ceremony was held after the matches and medals & trophies were awarded to the winners and runner ups of the competition by the chief guest on the occasion, Mr. Majid Yousfani, the Council General of Pakistan along with Faisal Shamsi of P B Harrision. Mr Muhammad Asif of Easylink group congratulated to all the winners and P B Harrison for the successful completion of this competition
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