The final phase matches of table tennis, badminton and cricket among the Press Clubs, Bar Association, Departments and Corporate sectors in the Punjab Youth Festival concluded here on Thursday at various centres..
Now the festival activity is approaching towards the matches of veteran cricketers, Balochistan cricket team and the conduct of the Guinness World Record events, road cycle race and the marathon which will be followed by the closing ceremony.
In the press club cricket category, Sahiwal defeated Faisalabad by six wickets in the final to claim the title.
Faisalabad batting first could manage 67 runs for four wickets in eight overs. Yasir Imran with 36 runs was the main scorer while Hafiz Aftab 11 and Kashif 10 extended full support. Shahid Bashir two for 13 and Imran Awan one for 15.
In reply, Sahiwal achieved the score by making 68 runs in 7.3 overs losing four wickets. Safdar 24 and Shahid Bashir 27 made the win easy while Bilal Nadeem, Hafiz Aftab and Kashif Farif shared one wicket each giving away 16, 25 and two runs respectively.
In the final of department table tennis, Sports Board Punjab beat Parks and Horticulture Authority 3-0 while in the bar association category, Lahore beat Rawalpindi 3-0. Saud Cheema beat Mohammad Mushtaq 11-4, 11-7, 11-4. Tahir Aslam beat Mohammad Rizwan 10-12, 11-9, 11-8, 12-10 and in doubles Lahore beat Rawalpindi 11-6, 11-5, 3-11, 11-4.
In Bar Association Lahore beat Faisalabad clinched the trophy. In the singles match Lahore’s Tayyab edged aside the rival player in singles 21-18, 21-12 and in the doubles, Tayyab paired with Zila Umar to win 21-5, 21-10.
The veterans team of Lahore Greens and Reds led by Abdul Qadir and Salim Malik will play best of three matches in the Punjab Youth Festival.
In the first match of the veterans, Reds beat Greens by four wickets. Greens captain after winning the toss made 227 for eight in 30 overs. Malik with 51 was the highest scorer while he got useful support from Zahoor Elahi 43 and Rahat Abbas 33. Rehan Rauf of the rivals got four wickets, Afzal Munir and Shahid Ali shared two wickets each.
In reply, Reds archived the score in the final over. Jamshed Ali 38, Shakeel Malik 34 not out. Zahoor Elahi and Mailk shared two wickets each from the losing end. Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan and Usman Anwar, Director General Sports and Youth Affairs were the chief guests on the occasion.
Former captain Inzamamul Haq will also be seen inaction along with Kamran Khan, Ashraf Ali, Rauf Wayn, Allauddin, Mujahid Jamshed, Ghaffar Kazmi, Shahid Mansoor, Distigar Butt, Mohammad Jamshed, Azmat Butt, Khawaja Naseeruddin, Shahid Ali, Rahat Abbas, Abid Hussain (manager) will be in Lahore Whites while the Reds would have Zahoor Elahi, Kh Nadeem, Abdullah Sumbal, Asim Sheikh, Saifullah, Malik Shakeel, Romail, Rehan Rauf, Munir Shah, Ch Shafqat, Mian Mobeen, Shahzad, Arif, Ismial and Ahmed Shahab. The veteran played their opening match at Bagh-i-Jinnah’s Lahore Gymkhana Ground.
Their second match will be played at the same venue tomorrow, Friday and the third encounter has been slated for March 11.
