LAHORE-Pakistan Army, defending champions Wapda and Karachi qualified for the semifinals of the National Women’s Basketball Championship here at Pakistan Sports Complex Islamabad organized by Federal Basketball Association.
Pakistan Army girls wearing red shirts are still unbeatable as they continued their journey of consecutive victory in the championship pool round matches by defeating Islamabad Blues by 55-26 points to qualify for the semifinals. Kashifa was the top player for Army who scored 17 points with Ayesha Khan (15) and Amna Mohsin (9) also played well for the winning side. For Islamabad Blues, Amani Khan scored 8 points and Mominah Ahmed 6.
Defending champions Pakistan Wapda also continued their outstanding performance and were close to defend the championship title as they outclassed Rawalpindi by a huge margin of 62-6 to enter the semifinals. Rawalpindi team remained helpless in front of defending champions, who were leading by 28 points in the match until half time while they added 36 more points to their tally to win the match by 62-6. From the winning team, Hijab Fatima and Sidra Hakim scored 11 points and Amina 9.
In the third match of the day, Karachi defeated Islamabad Whites by 30-14 to book berth in the semifinals. Karachi were enjoying 17-9 lead till the half time while they added 13 more points in their tally to win the encounter by 30-14 and also earned a place in the semifinals. From Karachi, Hiba Faraz emerged as top scorer with 12 points while Laiba Tabraiz Khan contributed with 4 points. The point scorers from Islamabad (White) were Maham (5) and Amna (4). Commissioner Karachi Muhammad Iqbal Memon, who is also patron-in-chief of Karachi Basketball Association, congratulated Karachi women team and hoped that they will continue to perform well and try to win the event.
Lahore thumped Khyber Pakhtukhwa in the fourth and last match of the day by 31-4 points. KP failed to make a single point till the half time where Lahre was leading by 17 points. By the end of the full time, Lahore comprehensively won the match by 31-4. Huraina Sajjad and Feroza Aslam scored 10 and 8 points respectively from the winning side.
Eight teams including Pakistan Wapda, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Islamabad Whites, Pakistan Army, Lahore, Islamabad Blues and Peshawar are taking part in the five-day championship, which will be concluded on October 7. The event is being organized by FBBA under the umbrella of Pakistan Basketball Federation (PBBF).