KARACHI, July 31: The Aslam memorial bridge tournament began on Saturday to commemorate the death of Aslam Shaikh, the greatest connoisseur of his time of the duplicate bridge, who was brutally murdered by dacoits on Aug 5, 1995.

Karachi Bridge Association organizes a Duplicate bridge tournament at Aslam Bridge Hall each year in recognition of his services.

Fifteen teams from the city and Hyderabad are competing in this event, which is spread over seven rounds in the Swiss Movement. Half of the rounds were completed on Saturday evening, with fancied teams, Candyland, Data Steel, Stalwarts and Havoc having formed the front bunch.

Havoc, made up of Iqbal Abedi, Mohsin Chandna, M A Ansari, Tehseen Gheewala and Imran Abedi, started with a thumping victory against Four Bidders Club 25-5, but lost to Candyland who made it two in a row. Candyland defeated Strikers in the first round 23-7.

Stalwarts with Mustafa Saif, Hussain Jafer, A K Bhurgri and Anwer Kizilbash in their fold who got a bye in the first round faced Giants in the second and made a clear victory showing their marksmanship in bidding and dummy play.

Stalwarts drew level with fancied Candyland. They comprise Hamid Mohiuddin, Ziaullah Baig, Mubashir Puri, Muhammed Esmail and Khalid Mohiuddin.

One of the two contenders, Giant, do not look in the best nick, as they lost two matches in three rounds, but since they are old campaigners, they are most likely to strike back towards the close.—PPI