KARACHI, Feb 21: Nine teams from India and one each from the UAE and Sri Lanka will feature in the Balijee International bridge tournament to be held in Lahore next month.

The family of late Muhammad Iqbal known in bridge circles as Balijee is sponsoring the event, Pakistan Bridge Federation announced on Monday.

The tournament in which twelve teams from Lahore, four from Islamabad and six from Karachi besides foreign teams will participate carries Rs120,000 prize money for the winners and Rs60,000 for the winning pair.

Yummy Products have arranged a separate team and pairs events for women, in which two top teams Bridgettes and Horizon will renew their rivalry. Pakistan's Open national team Candyland is treating the event as a warm-up session before BFAME zonal championship scheduled to be held in Dhaka from April 28, a spokesman for PBF said.

Entries for both Open and women events will close on Feb 29. Interested teams should contact Syed Ameer Hasan on 9243365 in Karachi, Uzair Kamal on 051-2260149 in Islamabad and tournament director, Ihsan Qadir on 042-5140409 in Lahore. -APP