Balijee Bridge off to majestic start

LAHORE: Arsalan Mansoor and Maj Hasnat Mehmood (North South section) shined on the first day of the 16th Balijee Bridge Championship, rallying to the front with a score of 63.28 on Friday.

The first day of this four-day championship was reserved for the pairs event, which in bridge is like the Twenty20 in cricket.

Other pairs in North South section who performed admirably were Hamed Mohiuddin and Hassan Askari who managed a score of 59.38. At a score of 59.27 is the pair of Anwer Gheewala and Ghulam Mohammed. A few more also look imposing and they are Humayun Khan and Qasim Qureshi (57.83), Maj Hasan Akhter Zaidi and Javed Ahmed Miran (57.81), Preeti Nihalani and Rekha Desai (55.15).

A total of 116 players, divided into 58 pairs, are vying for top positions in the Pairs Event which ends today at midday. The fancied ones in the East West Section are: Asha Sharma & Avijit Chakraborty (65.55), Fatima Raza & Rubina Agha (61.88), Javed Khalid & Saeed Akhter (61.55), Anisur Rehman & Anwar Mumtaz Kizilbash (60.24) and Yousaf Jan Mohammed & Imran Abedi (59.20).