Dr Minhaj Qidwai elected new KBA President

By Syed Khalid Mahmood
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Dr Minhaj Qidwai and Khalid Mohiuddin have been elected unopposed as the President and the Secretary respectively of the Karachi Bridge Associates (KBA) for a three-year term starting from 2017.

According to the results declared by the KBA at the Aslam Bridge Hall, housed at the National Stadium, Karachi, all the nine candidates having submitted their nominations were elected unopposed. 

The Founder President of the KBA, Ahsan Rizvi, having relocated abroad, didn�t contest the elections while Azwer-ul-Haque, a veteran bridge player and administrator, was conferred the post of Chairman Emeritus and Rehana Saigol, a former President of the Pakistan Bridge Federation (PBF), has been inducted as an Advisor of the KBA. 

Besides Dr Minhaj Qidwai (President and Director), and Khalid Mohiuddin, (Secretary), Mubashir Puri (Director), Tehseen Ayub (Director), Syed Ameer Hassan (Communication Manager), Mohammad Rafiq (Facility Manager), Shaikh Abdul Muqeet (Business Development Manager), Shahab Khan (Media and Publicity Manager) and Wajahat Suri (Training Manager) are the other elected office-bearers of the KBA for the period 2017-2019. 

�Serving our members, working closely with like-minded organizations and promotion of bridge among youth are our top most priorities. The new KBA management looks forward to work as a team with all the bridge fraternity to promote bridge in Pakistan and make Pakistan shine on the global bridge map,� Dr Minhaj Qidwai remarked. 

�We would like to welcome our member for pairs event every Friday from 6 pm to 9 pm and team event every Sunday from 3 pm to 9 pm at the Aslam Bridge Hall. For playing on Tuesdays the members may have to speak to one of our team members to know the venues holding the event which include Karachi Gymkhana, Karachi Club, Defence Club or Golf Club or elsewhere,� he announced. 

�All who desire to learn bridge are encouraged to contact the KBA management for lessons and training sessions. We are open to suggestions on how to promote bridge particularly among the young Pakistanis to excel in this mind sport,� he added.

Bridge Nationals 2015 in November

Pakistan News & Features Services

The Silver Jubilee edition of the National Bridge Championship is scheduled to be held in November at Karachi with Islamabad being the alternate venue.

Gulzar Bilal, Secretary, Pakistan Bridge Federation (PBF), has announced that the Bridge Nationals 2015, offering prize money to the tune of Rupees half a million, will be staged from November 6 to 9. 

He added that the trials to select the national team to represent the country in the next year�s World Mind Sports Games will be conducted on IMP pairs basis during the month of December. 

The PBF Secretary disclosed that efforts were being made to celebrate the silver jubilee of the National Championships in a befitting manner and bigger cash awards are being offered to the top performers. 

�Obviously the 25th edition of the National Bridge Championship is going to be a landmark event for us and we would like to make it a memorable experience. We expect around 20 to 25 outfits in the Team Championship whereas more the participation in the pairs event is anticipated to be over 100,� Gulzar Bilal, himself one of the best exponents of the game in the country, stated. 

�Besides the lion�s share in the prize money, the winning team will also receive a running trophy. Cash prizes have been disbursed to the top performers in the past as well but this time the amount will be higher,� he continued.

�As in the past, the National Championship will remain an open event for the bridge players from all over the country and the deadline for confirming entries will be November 5,� the PBF Secretary declared.

It may be recalled that both the finalists of the last edition of the National Bridge Championship hailed from Karachi. Puri Real Estate had emerged triumphant in the title clash, having outwitted Bilal Sindh in the final.

Pakistan Bridge Federation rewards victorious outfits

By Syed Khalid Mahmood
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Pakistan Bridge Federation (PBF) has rewarded the seniors and the women team of the country for having triumphed in their respective events of the 18th Asia and Middle East Bridge Championships 2015 held in Amman, Jordan, earlier this year.

In fact it turned out be quite a memorable reunion of Pakistan�s bridge stalwarts and the sumptuous dinner served in the lush green lawn on a most pleasant evening brought smiles on every face attending the event. 

Cheques of Rupees three lacs each were presented to the captains of both the winning teams during a dinner reception hosted in their honour by Mohammad Nawab Yousuf Talpur, President, PBF, at his DHA residence in Karachi on August 17. 

Pakistan�s seniors outfit comprised of Azhar Hamid, Iftikhar Baqai, Mirza Shauq Hussain, Zakir Mahmood, Masood Mazhar and Kamran Ibrahim, while the national women team featured Rubina Agha, Zeenat Azwer, Qudsia Dossa, Roshan Bokhari, Rubina Hai and Fatima Reza. 

By virtue of winning the zonal trophies, both the teams have also qualified for the World Bridge Championships, due to be staged in Chennai, India later this year. They will be taking part in the 8th d�Orsi Seniors Trophy and the 20th Venice Cup to be held alongwith the 42nd Bermuda Bowl and the 10th Transnational Teams Championships from September 26 to October 15.

The cheques were collected by Kamran Ibrahim and Roshan Bokhari, who captained the seniors and women outfits respectively. 

Speaking on the occasion, the PBF President hailed the performance of the seniors and women teams in the zonal event, expressing the hope that their feat will be helpful in boosting bridge in Pakistan. 

Nawab Yousuf Talpur talked about the federation�s plans to initiate a programme aimed at promoting the sport from the grassroots level in order to it to the masses. 

�Our current and former players have done an exceedingly good job over the years. But we need to look to the future and we have to expand the base. We need a broader pool of players in order to produce high quality players on a regular basis,� he remarked. 

Gulzar Bilal, Secretary, PBF, added that they already have finalized a plan to mobilize the youngsters and they look forward to implementing it in the very near future. 

�We are at it and we would be launching the programme for youth shortly. We do have talented and passionate youngsters playing bridge in the country which augurs well for the future,� he reckoned. 

The ceremony was attended among others by Mazhar Jafri, Khurshid Hadi and Tariq Raheed Khan, all of whom having headed the PBF in the past. The other prominent bridge players present on the occasion included Abdul Rahman Allana, Shahin Iqbal, Ghalib Bandesha, Maj (retd) Masood Zaidi, Rashid-ul-Ghazi, Hasan Askari, Dr Minhaj Kidwai and Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi.