LAHORE: Players from six countries arrived in Lahore to join the 22nd Bridge Federation of Asia and Middle East (BFAME) Championship on Saturday.
According to the local media, besides host Pakistan, teams from Jordan, India, Bangladesh, Palestine and the UAE are participating in the championship.
A Friendship Open Pairs contest was held on Friday while the captains’ meeting was arranged.
Ehsanur Rehman Mazari, Federal Inter-provincial Minister, BFAME President Bahajat Al Majali, Pakistan Bridge Federation President Mubashar Lucman and Secretary Ehsan Qadir attended the opening ceremony of the championship event.
Later, addressing the press conference jointly alongside Majali, Indian captain Ranjan Bhattacharya said his team was upbeat to do good and qualify for the World Cup.
Bhattacharya said, “We’re thankful to both the Indian and Pakistani governments for helping us arrive in Pakistan.”
“Yes, the [political] history of both the countries has had [many] issues, but we successfully convinced our government that India’s participation is essential as it is a qualifying round for the World Cup.”
Ranjan thanked the PBF for warmly welcoming the Indian squad at the Wagah border and hospitality in Lahore.
Majali said that 18 players from five countries and 24 from Pakistan were participating in the championship.
Majali said, “Syria, Sri Lanka and Bahrain couldn’t feature in the championship due to some reasons and Saudi Arabia was also to participate, but they couldn’t reach.”
Events [at the BFAME championship] would be held in four categories: Open, Woman, Seniors and Mixed Team. The major two teams of each category would qualify for the World Cup in Morocco in September this year.
Pakistan, India and Jordan are participating in all four categories. The UAE is contesting in three categories, while Bangladesh and Palestine feature in only one category. On Saturday, three rounds would be held in each category.
From Sunday to Wednesday, the contest would be held on round robin basis in all the categories, with all events teams playing three matches daily. But in Mixed and Senior, the last round robin would be staged on Thursday, when the semi-finals, segments 1 to three in Open/Women teams, are held.
On May 12, the semi-final in Segments 4 to 6 in Open/Women teams will be played, followed by finals in Segments 1 and 2 in Mixed/Seniors.
On the final day (May 13), the finals in Segments 1 and 2 in Open/Women Teams will be the last event of the championship.
