Sarah, at the age of 16, did not know her hobby would be her profession. She started playing Badminton in Islamabad Club with her friends. However, as her interest grew, she decided to seek professional guidance. The role of her mentor was played by her first Coach, Tahir Ishaq, who, according to Sarah, played a major role in teaching her the respective sport. Sarah made her debut in the National Championship held at Minto Park Lahore, where she reached the Women's doubles final (with Zarina Waqar). She has clinched the National Championship title 5 times: Women's Doubles (2012, 2015 and 2018) and Mixed Doubles (2009 and 2019).
Not only has she dominated the domestic circuit, but has also shown some remarkable performances all around the globe. She led the team 'Pakistan HEC' in the All world Badminton University Championship 2004 held in Bangkok, Thailand. 2 years later, she was part of the Bronze medalist Pakistan team in SAF games 2006. In 2007, Sarah became the part of National Bank of Pakistan's badminton team and has been their consistent player till present. In the following year, she bagged a bronze medal in Mixed Doubles in Nepal International Series 2008. Furthermore, she clinched a gold medal in Women's Singles in Yonex Sunrise Badminton Championship Pakistan in 2013. In the following year, Sarah migrated to Australia and has been training under Mr. Ong Beng Teong (Former world no.2 and the Commonwealth games gold medalist). Also her husband, Rizwan Azam, has been her training partner for the last 5 years. Unfortunately, Sarah had to face a brutal ankle injury during a match. Nonetheless, her good mindset helped in a quick recovery. After a year of training in Australia, she won a silver medal in Women's Doubles in Victor Bahrain International series. The 2012 Pak no. 1 (XD) reached 118th spot in BWF Mixed doubles ranking in 2016 (only Pakistani female to reach the respective ranking in XD until now). In the same year, she qualified for the Round of 16 (XD) in Australian Open Super Series. She was also able to bag the outstanding performance award in the 53rd National championship.
Sarah Mohmand is one of the experienced Pakistani players who has had the opportunity to train under the renowned "Sadiq brothers", Misbun Sadiq and Rashid Sadiq for a couple of months. Moreover, she gained professional training from an Indonesian Coach, Risky Buddhi. Also, coaches including Akram Masih and Tariq Farooq have played a major role in polishing her skills. According to Sarah, the constant support of her family, (especially her brother Shahab Khan), Shujaat Ali Khan, Waqas Masud, Palwasha Bashir and her husband, Rizwan Azam has been a major factor in her upward climb in badminton.
She aims to improve her BWF ranking and enter the world's top 50 slot.
Written by: Muhammad Anas Akhtar (Admin FBCOP)
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