KARACHI, July 11: Candyland recovered from early shock to grab the weekend Swiss bridge championship with 96 victory points (VPs) at Aslam Bridge Hall on Sunday. Candyland, making good use of Rashid Jafer with their regular players Muhammed Ismail, Ziaullah Baig, Mubashir Puri, Hasan Askari and Hamid Mohiuddin, put up a spirited fight after losing the opener to Winsome 19-11.

They bounced back beating Mazhar 20-10, Maq 20-10, Attackers 24-6 and finally Alliance 21-9.

Fine Foods’s Iqbal Hyder, Cmdr (Retd) Nuri Pasha, F A Naeem and Khalid Zaki also fought well beating Chandna 18-12, Mehmood 21-9 and Sprinters 21-9.

They lost two matches to Attackers 9-21 and Mazhar 13-17 to secure 85 VPs for the second berth.

Attackers and Alliance scored 84 VPs each but the tie went to the former as they had won four matches from Mehmood 18-12, Fine Foods 21-9, Alliance 18-12 and a last round match from Chandna 21-9. They lost the fourth round to Candyland 6-24.

Muhammed Azwerul Haque, S M Ozair, Yousuf Gheewala, Nasir Reza Khan and Zahur Kazmi made up the Attackers.

Another event, a two-day Haji Yousuf Dada bridge tournament will commence from Saturday at Aslam Bridge Hall.

Havoc have to face the likes of in-form Candyland, Giants and Data Steel to defend their title.—APP