Women’s bridge team to leave for Indonesia

Pakistan squad set to take part in World Team Championship.

KARACHI:

Pakistan women’s team is gearing up for the Venice Cup World Bridge Team Championship that will begin tomorrow in Bali, Indonesia.

They will be representing the country as the regional champions from the Bridge Federation of Asia and Middle East (BFAME) Championship where they defeated India earlier this year for the first time to qualify for the World Championships.

The Pakistan squad will leave for Bali tonight, where they will play 21 matches. Team captain Rubina Agha said the event would be a gruelling competition for the six-member team.

She said that although the women’s team have prepared for the Venice Cup for months, they will be facing very tough competition in Bali.



“There won’t be any easy match for us,” Agha told The Express Tribune. “We have a very tough draw. Our first three matches will be against Poland, Egypt and Turkey and they are all very good teams. We will have three pairs in the competitions and as the captain I have strategised according to our opponents.”

Zeenat Azwer, Roshan Ara Bokhari, Qudsia Dossa, Rubina Saeed Hai and Fatima Raza will also be the part of the team.

Agha added that the team has prepared uniforms for the championship as well to set them apart from the rest of the participants.

“We have scarves especially designed for the event; they have Pakistan’s flag and Quaid-e-Azam’s picture printed on them. The blazers display the logo of the Pakistan Bridge Federation. We were told that we’d need to have some sort of a uniform for the team and since we don’t wear western clothes, we opted for the scarf and the blazers.”

France will be defending the Venice Cup. The tournament is held every odd number of year by the World Bridge Federation.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2013.

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