April 14, 2008	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 7, 1429

KARACHI, April 13: The Super Marathon bridge tournament is reaching towards its climax as the two hopefuls, Data Steel and Candyland, eliminated their respective rivals, Solox and Four Bidders, in semi-finals at the Aslam Memorial Hall on Sunday.

However, before entering the final segment, Candyland’s unbeaten record was tarnished in the last round of the qualifying stage when they were forced a deficit score of 9-21 by Four Bidders, who were last to enter the semis.

Candyland with 129 victory points (VPs) in the sixth round were quite safe. They were first to enter with a score of 138 VPs.

Data Steel scored 123 VPs in the qualifying stage after defeating Pak Oils 20-10 in the last round.

At the lemon time, Candyland established a nerves shaking lead of 31 IMP. Four Bidders further conceded 14 Imps in the second, so Candyland entered the final with ease.

However, the story was quite different at the next table. Solox gave a tough fight to Data Steel.

After a close first half, exchanges were once again equal. However, Data Steel managed a solitary point win over Solox.—PPI