LAHORE - The 21st Bridge Federation of Asia & Middle East (BFAME) Championship was organized online for the first time ever due to Covid pandemic here at the bridge playing tables of Lahore Gymkhana and on screens over six days and concluded yesterday. 
Another exceptional feature of this international bridge event was that Pakistan’s Ihsan Qadir who is currently Secretary BFAME, played the central role in organizing the event in a felicitous manner. Seven competing countries were Bangladesh, India, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Pakistan. All these countries had fielded their national bridge teams in four categories namely open, seniors, mixed doubles and ladies. A total of six national teams contested in open and seniors category while there were four teams in mixed and ladies segment. Pakistan had pitched in national teams in open, seniors and mixed and no ladies team was launched. 
As for the proceedings of the BFAME Championship, Pakistan’s open team comprising Kashif Ali Qureshi, Hasnat Mehmood, Khalid Mohyuddin, M Mubashir Puri, Yasser Rahim and Arsalan Mansoor made it to the semifinals. Other teams that made it to the semifinals were India, UAE and Jordan. 
In seniors section, the semifinalists were India, Bangladesh, Jordan and Pakistan. While the open team did not go beyond the semifinals and it was the seniors team which after playing three round robins in five days reached the finals. Pakistan prevailed over India and clinched gold medal. Pakistan seniors team, including Kamran Ibrahim (capt), Mirza Shauq Hussain, Iftikhar Baqai, Zakir Mahmood, Masood Mazhar and Ghalib Bandesha, beat India 88-45 IMPs in two rounds on the final day. 
In other events, India won three gold medals in open, mixed and ladies category and silver in seniors’ category, while Jordan bagged silver in mixed and UAE won silver in open and women category. Now Pakistan seniors team will represent the country in Bermuda Bowl (a biannual event) scheduled to be held in Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy in Mar-Apr 2022.