LAHORE, April 16: The defending champions 'Formidable' from India with 233 Match Points won the 10th Balijee International bridge championship at the Lahore Gymkhana Club on Sunday.

The winning team comprising Kiran Nader, K.R Venkatraman, Subash Gupta and B Satyanarayana, which was facing a threat from ACES on Saturday as they were only one point ahead (116MPs to 115MPs).

Though the going has been tough throughout the final day for all the leading contenders, 'Formidable' came out with increasing the lead as Aces earned the runners-up position with 217 points.

Aces from Pakistan has Shoaib Bokhari, Wahid Khan, Izzat Khalil and Ghias Malik.

Delhi Club and the Delhi Bridge Association were locked at the third place with 208 MPs, each.

Hadhi remained fourth with 205 MPs.

In the ladies' pair section, Abeda and Teeta remained winners followed by Kumti-Mohini, Mrs Single-Mrs Aggarwal.

In all, 36 players from India and 120 from all over Pakistan took part in the championship.

Results:

233-Formidable (Kiran Nader, K.R Venkatraman, Subash Gupta, B Satyanarayana); 217-ACES (Shoaib Bokhari, Wahid Khan, Izzat Khalil, Ghias Malik); 208- Delhi Club (Rita Choksi, Ravi Sawtney, V.K Sawhney, S. Hooda); 208- Delhi Bridge (Sudhir Aggarwak, Paresh Gupta, Vinond Sharma, Amarjit); 205- HADI (Kemal Shoaib, Munir Ataullah, Tahir Masud, Javed Ahmed).