Pakistan’s table tennis campaign ends

Players crash out of doubles, mixed doubles events.

KARACHI:

Pakistan’s campaign at the World Table Tennis Championship ended after the country’s number one player Ali Faisal and partner Asim Qureshi lost their doubles matches. Mixed doubles pair of Qureshi and Shabnam Bilal also tasted defeat after losing to Italy’s Marco Rech and Elisa Trotti 4-2 in the event underway in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Faisal and Qureshi were simply no match against Singaporean pair of Clarence Zhe Chew and Jie Xue Pang as they lost 11-6, 11-4, 11-4, a defeat that ended Pakistan’s chances in all three categories after the two players crashed out of the singles round earlier.

In the mixed doubles match, Qureshi and his female counterpart hit back in the third set 11-5 after losing the first two 11-6, 11-8. However, the Italians won the following set 11-4 before the Pakistani duo made it 3-2 by winning the fifth set 11-7. But the ride was over after Rech and Trotti won the sixth set 11-4 to reach the last-16.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2011.