LAHORE, March 23: Formidable of India grabbed 154 Victory Points to win the Balijee memorial bridge championships at the Lahore Gymkhana on Wednesday.

Formidable comprising K R Venkatraman, Subahash Gupta, Raju Tolani, Kiran Nadar, B. Satyanaryan and Sunit Choksi proved their supremacy after outpointing Punters in the last segment by maximum 25-4 points to receive the cash prize of Rs 140,000.

The Karachi-based Giants with Shahin Iqbal, Masud Mazhar, Azhar Kareem, Maj. Akhter Zaidi, Hamid Zaman and Hasan Jawad fought gallantly till the last card dropped to earn the runners- up spot with 152VPs.

In the last match Giants faced Solox and won narrowly 16- 14. Munir finished third with 145VPs. Munir were in excellent form , however, few unlucky swings in the last match against Candyland which they lost 13-17.

Munir Ataullah, Mohsin Chandna, Rita Choksi, Tahir Masud, Imran Jaka and Shauq Hussain represented Munir foursome. Solox with Gulzar Bilal, Jamal Nizami, Abdul Khaliq and Nasir Reza Khan scored 142 VPs to claim the fourth place. They gave a good account of their game.

Delhi Bridge Association with H Verma, R.K Gupta, Dr. R.L. Singh, S.N. Mathur and M S Sharma finished fifth with 141VPs as they made last minute dash to join the mainstream.

In all, 33 teams, 27 from Pakistan and six from India took part in the competition. The Indian had already won the Open Pair event when the pair of Vankatraman-Subhash Gupta won.