LAHORE: The 14th Balijee International Bridge Championship, now in progress at the Lahore Gymkhana bridge tables, moved into the final phase.
During the third day on Tuesday a total of 20 teams occupied the bridge tables and sought honours in this international bridge event.
Although every participant was adept and capable of performing well, some teams lagged behind because of lack of a cohesive effort. However the Izzo team, comprising Jahangir Ahmed, Izzat Khalil, Farooq Alvi and Abdul Khaliq, were able to withstand the competitive pressure and at the end of five of the ten rounds, managed to overwhelm their opponents and surged in front through wholesome loaded classy moves which enabled them to authenticate their superiority. At the end of five rounds the Izzo team had compiled 73.83 victory points (VPs).
As for the other top performers, the Karachi Silver team, consisting of Syed Asghar Abbas Zaidi, Abdul Qadir Bhurgri, Zafar Zaki and Muhammed Zubair, also gave a display of combined intelligence and succeeded in compiling 68.78 victory points and are placed second.
The third slot at the end of five rounds is occupied by SAGA team whose team members are Ghalib Bandesha, Assad Maqbool, Nadir Ali and Col Assad. This team is also in a fairly good position and has accumulated a score of 67.58 victory points.
With five rounds still to go the team positions are as follows:
1. Izzo(Jahangir Ahmed, Izzat Khalil, Farooq Alvi, Abdul Khaliq) 73.83 Victory Points (VP).
2. Karachi Silver (Syed Asghar Hussain Zaidi, Abdul Qadir Bhurgri, Zafar Zaki, Mohammed Zubair) 68.79 VPs.
3. SAGA (Ghalib Bandesha, Assad Maqbool, Nadir Ali, Col Assad) 76.58 VPs. 4. Hold Them (Hasnat Mehmood, Uzair Ahmed Kamal, Umar Aslam, Arsalan Mansoor) 61.93 VPs.
5. BILAL (Mohammed Mubashir Puri, Farrukh Liaqat, Gulzar Ahmed Bilal, Sapan Desai) 61.59 VPs.
6.KAMRAN(Azhar Hamid, Mirza Shauq Hussain, Kamran Ibrahim,Imran Abedi,Parvez Mirza,Masood Mazhar)60.01 VPs.
The final sessions will be played on Saturday and the leaders are expected to have a tough time in their matches against challengers like Karachi Siver, SAGA and KAMRAN and Bilal.
In the race for honors in the Ladies contest the Jordan ladies team comprising Aida, Sakher ,Randa Baket and Azza Qashu is in the forefront. They played an adept game and the moves looked pretty overpowering. The Jordan team is placed at a score of 52.21 victory points. In the second slot is the local team comprising Rehana Saigol,Abeda Ali, Rubina Agha,Paro Raza,Zeenat Azwar and Shahnaz Peerzada.
At the conclusion of the championship Maj Gen Sardar Tariq Aman, GOC 10 Div, will award prizes to the winners.