Pakistan women, seniors win titles in bridge championship

KARACHI: Pakistan’s seniors and women outfits came from behind in the finals to win their respective titles in the 18thAsia and Middle East Bridge Championships 2015 which concluded with a gala dinner at Amman, Jordan, on Wednesday.
In a remarkable turnaround of fortunes in both the finals, the teams behind at the half time came through to win it in the end. In the seniors event, with just seven boards remaining, Pakistan lead Sri Lanka by only 1.5 Victory Points (VPs) but they added another 33 IMPS to win the match.
In the women’s final, the Pakistanis started well and with eight boards left had outscored India by twenty-four IMPS to lead by 13 but India gradually clawed back and at the last board the difference had reduced the deficit to six, but the Pakistani women stayed focused and won by the narrowest of margins, one IMP.
By virtue of their qualification in the finals of their respective events, the seniors and women teams of Pakistan had already qualified for the 8th d’Orsi Seniors Trophy and the 20th Venice Cup, respectively, which will be held, along with the 42nd Bermuda Bowl and the 10th Transnational Teams Championships at Chennai, India, from September 26 to October 15 later this year.
Their victory in the finals of the zonal event was an icing on the cake which should give them greater confidence entering the global event due to be played in just a few months time.
Pakistan’s seniors squad, comprising of Azhar Hamid, Iftikhar Baqai, Mirza Shauq Hussain, Zakir Mahmood, Masood Mazhar and Kamran Ibrahim, who trailed 49.00-54.50 at the end of the first segment of the final against Sri Lanka, clinched the trophy by winning the second segment 46-16 with the final scores being 95-70.5.
The Pakistan women team, containing Rubina Agha, Zeenat Azwer, Qudsia Dossa, Roshan Bokhari, Rubina Hai and Fatima Reza, who was awarded a carry over of 8 VPs, also faced deficit in the final, having gone down 29-48 in the first segment against India. They turned the table by winning the second segment 42-31 which allowed them to win the match 80-79.
Pakistan’s open team, featuring Jawed Niaz, Mohammad Shafiq Janjua, Khawar Ansari, Masroor Ansari, Colonel Kashif Ali Qureshi and Major Faisal Mahmood, finished fifth in the points table at the end of the league matches and didn’t succeed in forcing their way into the knockout phase of the competition in which Jordan, Bahrain, Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) advanced to the semi-finals.