KARACHI, Sept 10: The pair of Pervaiz Mirza and Tariq Rasheed Khan were declared winner after re-scoring in the Karachi Club Pair Bridge Championship, said a news of Pakistan Bridge Federation (PBF) Wednesday.

Originally Sultan and Rashid Jafer were declared winners after the conclusion of the 15 rounds of Howell Movement but things changed after re-scoring the following day.

Sultan-Rashid were duly honoured and given the first prize, but on rechecking by the Tournament Director, two errors on scoring were detected. First on Board 2 when Pair No. 2 incorrectly scored 400, which should have been 600, then again in Board No.12 the score should have been 480 to EW being non-vulnerable, but it was scored as 680.

This correction altered the top positions. Tariq Rashid Khan-Pervaiz Mirza replaced Sultan-Rashid Jafer pair from the top berth.

After the gruelling journey of the qualifying round on Sunday last, sixteen pairs vied for the top honors. Fourteen qualified on merit and two pairs from the sponsors were taken in. The final session was held last evening at Karachi Club Bridge Hall and it became a tense battle when they pitched up against each other for the complete Howell Movement.

Thirty boards were played, two in each round. In the earlier rounds, Tariq and S.P. Jamal took over the leadership but they soon faded out giving room to Asghar Naqvi-Zeenat Azwer till the 8th round.

At this stage, Afzal Shaikh and Anwer Kemal, Muhammad Ismail-Imran Jaka, Zia-Hamid, Mohsin-Ghufran pairs, followed them very closely. Afzal-Anwer Kemal took over the command and kept it until the 13th round, when Muhammad Ismail-Imran Jaka, Sultan-Rashid made all out efforts to snatch the leadership.

It was Round 14 when Sultan Siddiqui-Rashid Jafer put a spirited fight showing their brillance and earning clean top to consolidate their position.

At this stage, Pervaiz Mirza and Tariq Rasheed Khan faced a pair and they expected to top score, but they were disappointed to see that this pair put up their best and restrained them to an average score.

In the 15th crucial round, when both the top pairs, Tariq-Pervez and Sultan-Rashid Jafer faced each other and exhibiting their fine approach to the game both the pairs played on average score.

However, their performance in earlier rounds decided the fate. Sultan-Rashid Jafer, the famed pair which finished within top thirty in the Montreal Championship proved their mettle. Pervez-Tariq collected 60.00% score to win the title Rashid-Sultan occupied second berth with a score of 58.81%

The pair of Afzal Shaikh-Anwer Kemal finished third with a score of 57.62%

Following are the top eight positions; Rashid Jafer- Sultan 59.76% Pervez Mirza-Tariq 59.52% Afzal Shaikh-Anwer Kemal 57.14%. Ghufran Ashraf-Mohsin Chandna 55%, Asif Godel- M.Zubair 54.52%, Imran Jaka-M.Ismail 53.10% Hamid-Mohiuddin Zia 50% and Hasan Askari-Khalid 49.76%

In the meantime Super Bowl XVIII contest of Karachi Bridge Association will be conducted on Saturday at Aslam Memorial.—APP