Marathon triumph in Bridge event

KARACHI: Marathon emerged triumphant in the latest edition of the Swiss team event organised by the Karachi Bridge Associates (KBA), here at the at Aslam Bridge Hall, housed in the National Stadium, over the weekend.
According to the results of the twin weekly tournaments declared by the KBA here on Monday, Marathon won the team event by securing 54.87 Victory Points (VPs), while the duo of Ziaullah Baig and Hamed Mohiuddin became the champions in the pairs contest.
Eight outfits participated in the team event, while there were 22 pairs in action in the other weekly tourney.
Marathon, featuring Tariq Rasheed Khan, Gulzar Bilal, Shahin Iqbal and Pervaiz Mirza, won the day in the team competition as they outwitted Mushahid (18.54), GFQ (12.01) and Rafiq (16.73) with their solitary defeat coming in the third round against Anees (7.39). The aggregate of 54.87 VPs proved adequate to let them clinch the event.
Anees, who earned the distinction of being the only team to overpower the eventual champions, ended as the runners-up with their tally of 53.98 VPs, winning three matches from Deuces (18.00), Masood (17.09) and Marathon (12.61) and losing to Foxy (6.29). The outfit comprised of Anees-ur-Rehman, Ghufran Ashraf, Shahab Khan, Tariq Zafar and Khalid Mohiuddin.
Foxy, having in their folds the likes of AK Bhurgri, Mohammed Zubair, Zafar Zaki and Anwer Kizilbash, occupied third position in the points table with a total score of 48.72 VPs which was just a shade above fourth placed Mushahid containing Fatima Raza, Rubina Hai, Mushahid Siddiqui, Hasan Sajjad and Syed Ameer Hasan. They aggregated 48.60 VPs.
There was stiff competition in the pairs event with Ziaullah Baig-Hamed Mohiuddin registered another victory from the East-West direction with a score of 58.89% followed by Tariq Zafar-Nadeem Khalid 54.65%. Two pairs shared the third position as Anwer Sultan-Khalid Manzoor and Ashraf Kothari-Hussain Jaffer, both scored 54.17%.
Hasnain and Iqbal Zahid, with a score of 56.74%, surprised more experienced and fancied pair, while competing from North-South direction as they overtook Fatima Hai-Pervaiz Mirza (56.74&) and Chino Ayub-Ghaffar Qureshi (52.87%.).
Meanwhile the Defence Service Club, situated at Phase II, DHA will be the host of midweek bridge tournament on Tuesday (today). It is an open event and all bridge players have been invited to take part in the programme due to commence at 6 pm.