Seniors lose to Sri Lanka, India

Pakistan team fare poorly on opening day of bridge event.

KARACHI: Pakistan, defending champions in the seniors’ category, lost their opening matches at the Bridge Federation of Asia and Middle East (BFAME) Zonal Championship 2013 to Sri Lanka and India in Ahmedabad yesterday.

Hasan Jawad partnered with captain Mazhar Masud against Sri Lanka but the team lost the encounter with a difference of seven International Match Points (IMP).

The seniors ended third on the opening day as they lost to India 31-20 in the second match as well.



The seniors’ squad, which includes Jawad, Masud, Mirza Shauq Hussain, Azhar Hameed and Zakir Mahmood, is defending the title it won last year.

The top two teams in the open, seniors and women’s categories will qualify for the Bermuda Bowl World Championship set to take place in Bali in September.

“I played the first match and we lost by a narrow margin,” Jawad told The Express Tribune. “But we are confident that we will pick up in a day or two. Though, I’m not too sure about the open event. Our team is inexperienced in that category.”

Pakistan also lost their matches against UAE and Bangladesh in the open team category. They ended the day at seventh place after three matches, losing their last fixture to Sri Lanka 44-16.

However, Pakistan female players defeated India 33-18 to finish the day in top position in their event.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2013.