National trials of bridge teams likely next month

KARACHI: The regional trials to select the Pakistan bridge team for the current year have concluded and the successful outfits will now be locking horns in the national trials due to be held in Islamabad next month.
According to a media release issued by the Mind Sports Association of Pakistan (MSAP) here on Monday, the teams from Punjab are PK, Sabre, Aces and Ansari.
The four teams from Sindh to reach the final are Mazhar, Puri Real Estate, Ahsan and Foxy.
The eight teams will be in action in the national trials whose date is yet to be finalised, but are expected to be held in the federal capital sometime next month.
The winners of the trials will earn the title of the national team of Pakistan and represent the country in this year’s BFAME Championship, which serves as the qualifying round for the World Bridge Championship.
The regional trials at Lahore and Rawalpindi, which concluded on Sunday, were conducted on double round robin league basis.
PK, having Jahangir Ahmed, Hamza Liaquat, Mudassar Rahim and Shahani, won the Lahore event by accumulating 190 Victory Points (VPs).
Aces, featuring Ahsan Qureshi, Nauman Butt, Zia Hyder Naqi, Ghias Malik and Farooq Alvi, ended as the runners-up.
Sabre, comprising AVM (Retd) Niaz, A Cdre (Retd) Qamar Kiyani, Sarwar Khan, Shahid Hamid, Maj (Retd) Hasnat and Shahid Rafiq, emerged victorious among the contestants from the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Ansari, featuring Khawar Ansari, Masroor Ansari, Javed Niaz and Shafiq, did quite well and were leading the first day with a slender margin. Their hope for securing the coveted position was dashed when they encountered Sabre, against whom they lost by a big margin.