Pakistan confirm participation in AME Bridge event

KARACHI: Pakistan’s participation in all three categories of the 18th Asia and Middle East Bridge Championships 2015, being staged at Amman, Jordan, has been confirmed.
According to the details made available by Pakistan Bridge Federation (PBF) secretary Gulzar Bilal here on Thursday, the country is being represented in all three categories, Open, Women and Seniors, in the Zonal event which also serves as the qualifying rounds for the World Championships later this year.
“The Open outfit comprises of Jawed Niaz, Mohammad Shafiq, Khawar Ansari, Masroor Ansari, Colonel Kashif Ali Qureshi and Major Faisal Mahmood, while Rubina Agha, Zeenat Azwer, Qudsia Dossa, Roshan Bokhari, Rubina Hai and Fatima Reza constitute the women team. The seniors’ team has the presence of Azhar Hamid, Iftikhar Baqai, Mirza Shauq Hussain, Zakir Mahmood, Masood Mazhar and Kamran Ibrahim,” the PBF official disclosed.
The 18th edition of the Asia and Middle East Bridge Championships, also known as the BFAME Zonal Championships, is being organised by the Jordan Bridge Federation (JBF) at the Bristol Hotel in Amman. The main rounds, due to start on Friday (today), will conclude with the finals on June 3.
Besides hosts Jordan and Pakistan, there’s likely participation of Bahrain, Bangladesh, India, Kuwait, Palestine, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the open event, while four to six countries are expected to take part in the women and the seniors competitions.
It’s for the fourth time that the zonal bridge championships are being staged in Jordan with the President of the World Bridge Federation (WBF), Gianariggo Rona, also scheduled to attend.
The finalists of the open, women and seniors events of the 18th BFAME Championships will qualify for the 42nd Bermuda Bowl, 20th Venice Cup and 8th d’Orsi Seniors Trophy, respectively. All these three global competitions, along with the 10th Transnational Teams Championships will be held at Chennai, India, from September 26 to October 15 later this year.
It may be recalled that Pakistan had emerged triumphant in the women event of the previous edition of the Asia & Middle East Championships held at Ahmedabad, India, in June 2013, with the hosts having ended as the runners-up.