Triple delight for veteran Waqas
abu dhabi — Former Pakistani national player Waqas Ahmed stole the show by winning all three events in Men (above 40 years) categories in the 40th ISC APEX UAE Open Badminton Gold Championship.
The tournament was co-sponsored by Ashaway-UAE and held at India Social & Cultural Centre, Abu Dhabi, concluded its second phase (Senior) in front of a packed crowd.
The Ladies Singles title went to another five times Pakistan ex-national champion Palwasha Basheer.
It was a walk through for Waqas Ahmed, except for the little resistance he and his partner Mohammad Shoaib Butt, received from Nithin Gandhi and James Varghese in Men Doubles (above 40 years) event.
The highlight of the day was Palwasha’s stellar performance in the Ladies Singles Finals.
In spite of the fact that, she was recovering from fever, showed excellent court craft and deep smashes and presence of mind, to overcome a spirited challenge from 15-year old young contender Tanisha Crasto, who won three titles in the first phase (Junior) category, which concluded couple of weeks back.
In the deciding set, at score 1713, when Palwasha was down due to lack of strength, spectators had a feeling, she might give up. After a small medical time-out, she came back and won the final game 2114 and the crown.
“Last year I moved to Dubai from Pakistan, after marriage. This is my first crown in UAE. I am very much delighted to be at the top, this tournament being UAE’s one of the major ranking tournament and I will cherish this moment for years to come,” said Palwasha after the Singles win.
In the Men Singles category, defending champion Imam Adi Kusuma beat Dea Adi Ranga in straight sets. Imam completed a double title, when he and partner Mohamed Muanis overcame a strong challenge from Abu Dhabi pair Avinash Suresh Kumar and Alfaz Kalam,