By SANDRA MWILA At OYDC –
THE experienced pair of Juma Muwowo and Ogar Siamupangila settled for silver after losing the mixed doubles final 2-0 to A Kashkal and Hadia Hosny during the Zambia International Badminton Championship that ended in Lusaka yesterday.
Muwowo and Ogar beat their counterparts Chongo Mulenga and Mary Chilambe in the semi-final 2-0 with sets of 21-10, 21-13 to set up the final against Egyptian duo of Kashkal and Hosny, who beat the Zambian pair of Mark Banda and Evelyn Siamupangila 21-18, 21-19.
There were bronze medals for the pairs of Mark and Evelyn, and Chongo and Chilambe for reaching the quarter-finals.
In the women’s doubles, Ogar, who teamed up with tournament third seed Grace Gabriel, lost the semi-final clash 2-0 to the pair of Negin Amiripour and Hagiagha Soraya.
The men failed to impress once again after failing to go past the quarter-final stage in the doubles event with Muwowo and Mark losing 21-12, 21-14 to Giovanni Greco and Rosairo Maddaloni while Ngosa Chongo and Mulenga tumbled 2-1 (17-21, 21-18, 21-9) to El Khateeb and Kashkal.
Andrew Mumba and Bernard Siwale lost via a walkover with Kalombo Mulenga and Obbery Mulenga losing 21-14, 21-15 to Andries Malan and Willem Viljoen, who went on to win the title.
Meanwhile, third seed Kate Foo Kune won the women singles after overwhelming Soraya who retired through injury as V Eskandari won the men’s event after beating a determined sixth seed Ade Chandra 21-19, 14-21, 21-19.