13-year old Jansher crowns as youngest NWFP Champ

PESHAWAR—Upcoming 13-year old Jansher Khan crowned as the youngest NWFP Champion by snatching the title of the Boys Under-16 event in the 2nd All-NWFP Khyber Open Badminton Championship being played here at Staff Welfare Badminton Hall, Kohat road on Thursday.
Jansher Khan, who is also Pakistan No. 3 in the National Ranking as junior player, showed tremendous command against 16-year old Haleem Saud of District Charsadda in the marathon five sets battle. After losing to tiny Jansher in the hotly contestant final, which stretched to five sets, Haleem Saud of District Charsadda looked very dejected as tear rolled down his checks. But the father of Jansher, Dost Mohammad, a former national badminton player, went to Haleem Saud and advised him to star more hard work like Jansher.
Secretary NWFP Badminton Association Usman Afridi and Union Council Kakshal-I Nazim Irshad Thuder and large number of crowd also witnessed the thrilling final. Speaking on the occasion Nazim Khakshal-I Irshad Thunder said that he would provide all out support to youngsters like Jansher and Murad Khan, the two youngsters, represented Pakistan at national and international levels.
Nazim Irshad assured that the hall would be equipped with modern lights so that the youngsters would be facilitated. He also asked Usman Afridi to prepare a proposal for upgrading the lighting system of the only badminton hall situated in the City vicinity.
Earlier, Jansher (Peshawar) defeated Haleem Saud of Charsadda by 3-2, the score was 21-19, 17-21, 21-18, 21-23 and 21-14. Both Jansher and Haleem enthralled the sitting audience with forceful overhead smashes and cross-court smashes.
In the Team event Abbottabad defeated Bannu by 2-1, Amin-ul-Haq beat Kashif by 3-0, the score was 21-16, 21-17 and 21-17 while in the second singles Amir of Bannu beat Bilal by 21-19, 21-14. In the doubles Amin-ulHaq and Bilal defeated Riaz and Aamir of Bannu by 3-0, the score was 21-17, 21-17 and 21-19.
In the Men singles Hayatullah, Irfan Afridi, Murad Ali and Masood Khan took berth into the semi-finals. Hayat beat Kashif of Bannu by 21-15, 21-17, Irfan Afridi beat Tahir of Peshawar by 18-21, 21-12, 21-11, Murad beat Amin of Abbottabad by 21-12, 21-15 while Masood Khan of Peshawar beat Nadeem by 21-13 and 21-17.—INP