LAHORE, April 14: Indian Amar Jit-Paresh Gupta with 1136.36 Match Points won the pairs event of the 10th Balijee international bridge championship on Friday.

In the mid afternoon, on Friday, Amar and Paresh were way behind from the overnight front ranking pairs of Hasan Jawad-Yousuf Talpur, Tahir Masud-Javed Ahmad and Munir Ataullah- Shoaib Bokhari and were trailing at a modest position of 13th.

But as the competition progressed they improved their position gradually towards the victory stand.

In the second round, one East-West pair missed a sure slam, thus giving a clean lead to Amarjit and Paresh Gupta. Same pair landed in an ambitious heart slam, but Amarjit and Paresh defeated them by their skillful defence.

From Amar and Paresh every move was excellence-oriented and guided them to the winners' status.

Pakistan leading pairs, having the privilege of representing the country internationally, Javed Ahmed- Tahir Masud (Karachi) claimed second spot with 1118.50 MPs, followed by Munir Ataullah-Shoaib Bokhari (Lahore) who came third with 1095.78 points.

Khurshid Hadi-Kemal Shaoib (Karachi) scored 1095.29 points to win the fourth place.

Another Indian pair of B. Satyanarayan Kiran Nader finished fifth and the leaders of the first two rounds, Hasan Jawad-Yousuf Talpur relegated to sixth position, one spot above, was the defending champions from India, Venkatraman Subhash Gupta.

Abeda Ali-Teeta Agha overcame the challenge put up by the two Indian ladies Kunti Thakur- Mohini Bindra and managed to come first in the ladies section. Abeda and Teeta scored 1050.74 points against 1041.68 scored by Kunti and Mohini.

The pair of Mrs. Singla-Mrs. Aggarwal came third, Najam Abid-Nelofar Aslam earned fourth spot.

The main event, Balijee International team event started in the afternoon after the conclusion of the pairs contest.

Thirty-seven teams, many of them having the services of reputed internationals are competing.

At the time of filing this report, first round defending champions 'Formidable', Hadi and EH teams were evenly placed.

Results: (Pairs event):

Amar Jit-Paresh Gupta (India) 1136.76MPs; Tahir Masood-Javed Ahmad (Karachi) 1118.50; Munir Ataullah-Shoaib Bokhari (Lahore) 1095.78; Khurshid Hadi- Kemal Shoaib (Karachi) 1095.29;. B. Satayanarayana-Kiran Nader (India) 1078.72; Hasan Jawad-Yousaf Talpur (Karachi) 1076.28; K R Venkatraman-Subash Gupta (India) 1074.46; N K Gupta Sandeep Thakral (India) 1061.40; Sapan Dasai Masood Mazhar (Indo-Pak) 1055.25; Abeda Ali Teeta Agha (Lahore) 1050.74.