ISLAMABAD, May 27: After nine rounds, Data Steel with 162 Victory Points (VPs) led the field at the close of play on the second day of the Pakistan Open Bridge Championship at the Islamabad Club.

The top strata at the leaderboard appeared entangled for a close finish with three rounds to be played on the final day Sunday.

Data Steel — Tariq Rasheed Khan, Rashedul Ghazi, Parvez Mirza, Shauq Hussain and Kamran Ibrahim — went in for four straight wins.

The team defeated Candyland 20-10, then followed with a 16-14, 18-12 and 16-14 victories over Allana, Four Bidders and Tariq Aces respectively. Their 13-17 loss to Aces in the final round of the day might just have alerted the team to the perils of a level playing field.

Data Steel should spot the threat from Tariq Aces. Tariq Aces - Tariq Aziz, Zia Mahmood, Javed Khalid, Saeed Akhtar, Tahir Masud and Tufail Shaikh - are the tournament favourites.

A huge flap occurred at the start of play. Tariq Aces and Giants were awarded 13 VPs each after finishing their match with pairs of both sides sitting at the same axis. To add more to their misery, the tournament director penalized both teams for a 3 VPs penalty.

A dishevelled Tariq Aces went on to lose 13-17 to Four Bidders in the following round, then regained composure to overwhelm Computeronics 18-12. They slid 14-16 to Data Steel and then came into their stride to defeat the star-studded Allana by a handsome 22-8 score in the final round to finish with 155 VPs.

Two teams - Candyland comprising Muhammad Ismail, Ziaullah Baig, Hamid Mohyuddin, Khaled Mohyuddin, Mubashar Puri and Hasan Askari along with Chandna with Shakil, Naveed Anjum, Zahoor Kazmi and Hasan Sajjad are breathing down their neck at an uncomfortable 157 VPs each.

Potohar Force - Col Shahid Aziz, Maj Hasnat Mahmood, Shahid Rafiq, Tauseef Rauf, Zulfiqar Ahmad and Shahid Aziz - emerged from the blue with a 20-10 victory over Giants to be in striking distance at 153 VPs.

Leaderboard: Data Steel 162, Candyland 157, Chandna 157, Tariq Aces 155, Potohar Force 153, Allana 151, Aces 151, Four Bidder Club 148, SDC 139, Four Bidders 139, Giants 139, Lucky Strike 137, Dream Team 137, Computeronics 135, Raees IV 135, Tollink 134, Margalla 134, Partners 131, Obiz 125, Pirzadas 124, Friends 119, Twin City 117, Silver Star 109, Challengers 106, On the Edge 84.