Javeri wins inaugural ludo championship

Organisers term event a success, plan on holding it regularly.

KARACHI: Fourteen-year-old Shahveez Javeri outplayed 41 other contestants to come out victorious at the inaugural Royal Rodale Ludo Tournament yesterday.

Javeri, who remained unbeaten in the tournament, beat Uzair Sajjid in the final. Earlier, Javeri had defeated the 30-year-old Shaheryar Zakir to book a place against Sajjid. In the third place playoff match Faizan Ahmed outplayed Zakir.

The tournament, played on a knockout basis, featured 21 games on 12 tables. Javeri was delighted at winning the tournament and believed that luck had favoured him.

“It’s awesome, I knew I would win because luck was on my side today,” Javeri told The Express Tribune. “I play ludo regularly and I thought taking part in the event could just be another way of enjoying one of my favourite board games. That’s why I entered the competition.”

According to the tournament organiser and the Royal Rodale event manager Mohammad Haroon, the idea behind holding a ludo championship was to bring people together to enjoy a game that is played all over the country.

“Ludo is a game that everyone plays while growing up and it gives a lot of enjoyment,” said Haroon. “I researched to see if any ludo tournaments happen in the country regularly and found that there is only one tournament that had taken place last year. As ludo is a popular board game, we decided to hold a tournament for it but never expected so many people to participate in it. We’re now thinking about making the event a regular feature at the club.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2011.