LAHORE: The 16th Balijee International Bridge Championship at the Lahore Gymkhana bridge tables moved into the final phase with the final sessions to be contested on Monday. Earlier on Sunday, a total of 23 teams occupied the bridge tables and with quite a number of players were unable to withstand pressure.
As the matches progressed, top bridge players played forcefully in a bid to overwhelm the competitive environment through skilful moves that opened up their winning horizon.
In the end, Indo Pak Team moved to the top and comprised of Gulzar Bilal, Farrukh Liaqat, Subash Gupta and Sappan Desai. They secured victory in all six boards. Their victory points add up to 99.62 out of 6 wins. Puri Estate has the second position with 87.82 points.
Team Positions are as follows:
- Indo – Pak: Gulzar Ahmed Bilal – Farrukh Liaqat – Subash Gupta – Sappan Desai 99.82%
- Puri Estate: Muhammad Mubashir Puri – Khaled Mohiuddin – Hamed Khaled Mohiuddin – Hasan Askari 87.82%
- Next Pharma: Ahsan Javed Qureshi – Nauman Khalid Butt – Zia Hyder Naqi – Mirza Shauq Hussain – Ghias A. Malik 73.46%
- Tehsin: Tehsin Gheewala – Rashidul Ghazi – Muhammad Hashmat – Imran Abedi – Fatima Raza 73.19%
- Islamabad Green: Syed Abdul Hameed – Col. Nasir – Maj. Asad – A. B. Majhal 72.88%
- Shoaib: Khurshid Hadi – Kemal Shoaib – Javed Ahmed Miran – Hasan Akhtar Zaidi – Rubina Agha 69.38%
The final four sessions will be played today and the leaders are expected to have a tough time in some of their matches.
At the conclusion of the championship, Air Marshall Syed Shahid Zulfiqar Ali will award prizes to the winners in a prize distribution event at Lahore Gymkhana.