Murad Ali Of KP Reaches Semis In 34th National Games Men Badminton Singles

PESHAWAR, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th May, 2023 ) :Eight times National Champion international Murad Ali of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa took berth into the semi-finals of the Men Singles Badminton event part of the ongoing 34th National Games being played at Indoor Hall of the Ayub Stadium, Quetta on Wednesday.

Murad Ali continued his winning spree, by recording a thumping victory against his strong rival Tayyub Shafiq of Higher education Commission (HEC) in the marathon three sets battle.

Setting up a semi-final clash against another promising player Shoaib Riaz, also hailing from Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but playing for Pakistan Army, Murad Ali dominated the first and third sets before losing the second set to his strong rival Tayyub Shafiq.

Murad Ali has the honor of winning the National Badminton Championship, National Ranking Men Championship for record eight times, was also the gold medal winner of the 33rd National Games held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2019.

Murad Ali, a South Asian Games bronze medalist and also represented Pakistan in Commonwealth Games in Australia and Asian Games in Indonesia, said: "I am trying my hard to win back the title again and hopefully it will be a good semi-final against the most talented Shoaib Riaz of Pakistan Army.

" After victory against Shoaib Riaz, a son of National Junior Champion Riaz Khan, hailing from Bannu, Insha Allah would play the final against Hafiz Irfan once again," a jubilant Murad Ali told APP on phone soon after winning his quarter-final match.

Murad Ali was the only gold medal winner for KP in the 33rd National Games held in provincial capital Peshawar and hopefully he would win back another gold medal in the Men Badminton event of the 34th National Games being played in Quetta, Balochistan.

Earlier, in the quarter-final Murad recorded a 2-1 victory, winning the first set at 21-18 but lost the second at 19-21 and staged a comeback quickly by winning the third and decisive set quite easily at 21-14. It was a good match, Tayyub Shafiq said when asked to comment.

Murad is playing his good game, Tayyub Shafiq said.