Abdul Jabbar Faisal
ISLAMABAD: Punjab’s both teams men’s and women’s qualified for the finals after beating their respective opponents in the semifinals of the Jashan-a-Azadi Inter-Provincial Basketball Championships here at Laquiat Gymnasium, Pakistan Sports Complex on Tuesday. Also, KPK’s men and Islamabad’s women storm into the finals, as both the finals of the tournament will be played on Wednesday (August 14, 2024) at the same venue.
In the first Women’s semifinal, Punjab defeated Sindh 64-32. Punjabi females were leading 40-13 at the half-time. Khadija Mushtaq scored 17 points, and Aiman Mahmood scored 16 points for Punjab, and played a vital role in team’s victory, while Maryam scored 10 points and Aqsi scored 9 points for Sindh.
In the second semi-final, Islamabad A defeated Islamabad-B by 36-24 after an interesting match. Maria scored 12 points and Amani scored 7 points from Islamabad- A, while Shanzey scored 9 points and Shahbano scored five points from Islamabad-B.
In the men's first semifinal, Punjab beat Islamabad-A by 81-56. The score at half-time was 41-28 in favor of the winning team. Mohammad Taimur scored 22 points and Mohammad Saifullah scored 21 points for the winning team, while Ali Hamza Kazmi scored 23 points and Mohammad Usman scored 7 points for Islamabad-A.
In the second Semifinal, Khyber Pakhtunekawa (KPK) thrashed Islamabad-B 70-51 to confirm their berth in the final. Abdul Wahab 23, Bilal Khan 10 were major contributors to KPK. Haroon Rashid 15, Behram Raees 10 were the top scorers for the losing side Islamabad-A.
Matches were supervised by Mohammad Praim Shahzad, Moazzam Naveed Rao, Mohammad Mudassar, Yasir Ghafoor, Umar Mehmood, Adeel S Raza, Gul Jamal, Naveed Ahmed Beeda and Saadat Jahangir. Brig Mohammad Iftikhar Mansoor, President Pakistan Basketball Federation and sizeable spectators also witnessed the matches.
