May 27, 2006	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 28, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, May 26: After four rounds of the Pakistan Open Bridge Championship five teams — Data Steel, Allana, Candyland, Chandna and Tariq Aces — are closely embattled at 79, 78, 78, 76 and 75 Victory Points (VPs) respectively.

The three-day event that opened at the Islamabad Club Friday is based on the format of 12 rounds of ID board matches.

Before the commencement of the first round, all eyes were set on superstar Zia Mahmood, who arrived after being conferred the Sitara-e-Imtiaz by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Zia, who teamed up with Tariq Aziz, Javed Khalid, Saeed Akhtar, Tahir Masud and Tufail Shaikh to make Tariq Aces, celebrated with an early offensive scoring a 23-7 win over Silver Star.

Aces and Pirzadas of the Lahore bridge circuit stormed to a 25-5 and 25-3 wins over On the Edge and Challengers respectively.

Giants nudged Data Steel 17-13, Candyland pipped Potohar Force 16-14 while Allana were in a bye for 18 VPs.

The second round started with a thunderous 25-4 win for Candyland over Margalla while Aces trampled Pirzadas 22-8. Tariq Aces pushed aside Four Bidders 20-10, Data Steel prevailed upon Computeronics 19-11 and Allana got into their stride with a 17-13 victory over Giants.

Allana banged in with a 25-5 score against Tollink in the third round while Giants routed Friends by a similar margin.

Tariq Aces managed an 18-12 victory over Aces and Data Steel registered a massive 25-3 pounding of Lucky Strike. Candyland proved to good for Four Bidders scoring 21-9.

The last round of the day saw an upheaval with Tariq Aces losing 14-16 to Candyland.

Allana outpaced Four Bidders 18-12 while Chandna sprang into the top four with an 18-12 score against Aces.

Data Steel comprises Tariq Rasheed Khan, Rashedul Ghazi, Parvez Mirza, Shauq Hussain, Imran Jhaka and Kamran Ibrahim.

Allana are an all-star squad comprising internationals Abdul Rahman Allana, Jan-e-Alam Fazli, Rashid Jaffer, Munir Attaullah Šand Sarfraz Ahmad.

National champions Candyland fielded Muhammad Ismail, Ziaullah Baig, Hamid Mohyuddin, Khalid Mohyuddin, Hasan Askari and Mubashar Puri.

The tournament is being conducted by World Bridge Federation's certified director Ihsan Qadir who is on the panel of tournament directors of the 2006 World Bridge Championship being held at Verona, Italy from June 9.

Leaderboard

Data Steel 79 Victory Points, Allana 78, Candyland 78, Chandna 76, Tariq Aces 75, Giants 71, Four Bidders 71, Aces 71, Computeronics 68, Four Bidders Club 63, Potohar Force 63, Dream Team 61, Twin City 61, O Biz 55, Raees IV 55, Lucky Strike 55, Friends 53, Tollink 51, Silver Star 50, Challengers 50, Pirzadas 46, Partners 44, Margalla 43, SDC 42.