12th Balijee international bridge championship from 20th
Bureau Report

LAHORE—The 12th edition of Balijee international bridge championship being played here from March 20 will also be participated by seven Indian teams at Lahore Gymkhana.
This was stated by tournament’s organising director Ihsan Qadir at a news conference also attended by Muhammad Ejaz, chief executive of the tournament sponsor Yummy Milk Products, here on Tuesday. Ihsan said that the four-day regular annual activity will have a large participation from India, after Sri Lanka and Bangladesh refused to take part owing to various reasons.
“For us it is quite encouraging that a large number of the best Indian players drawn in from seven teams will be taking part,” he said, adding that the ‘Formidable’ who are the champions since the last four years will be defending the title. “In all, 38 teams will be competing and this year we will be using ‘bridge mates’, a new technology to feed the results to the computers by the bridge players at their respective tables,” he added.
The tournament official praised the sponsors for their continued patronage, The event is organised in memory of Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal, affectionately known as ‘Balijee’ in bridge circles and most respected as a player. Ejaz Ahmad said he is proud to be part of the tournament since such a long time, and reiterated his pledge to continue cooperating for the cause of bridge in the years to come.
“It is a very prestigious tournament in which maximum 44 pairs will compete and the presence of the topmost Indian players will make the event really competitive,” he said, adding that the tournament offers attractive cash prizes.
The following Indian teams will take part: Two teams each are from Delhi Gymkhana and Delhi Bridge Association. Formidable: Subash Gupta, Sunit Chokshi, Dalal Rejeshm Venkat Raman and Patel Pradeep Kumar.
Delhi Gymkhana: Sneh Lata Singla, Ram Anand, Rajiv Anand, Sanjiv Berry, Anju Khanna and Naresh Khanna. Delhi Gymkhana II: Anoop Dhawan, Sneh Dhawan, Deepak Gulhati, Veena Vishwanathan and Madhu Kochar. Arun Jain Team: Krishna Kumar, Deepak Kumar Tewari, Manas Kumar and Arun Jain.
Delhi Bridge Association is sending two teams, names to be received in a day or do. Dabi I: Ashwani Kumar, Sandeep Narang, Dr Sanghi, Satpat Arvind and Reghbir Singh.