LOS ANGELES, Aug 6: Zia Mahmood, a Pakistani American was amongst the highest masterpoint winners in the championship which ended last Sunday.

There were two prestigious events at the National Championship. The one with the highest reward in Master points was the team event called the Spingold Teams Event, opened only to gold life masters and International players.

The team of Roy Welland, Bjorn Felonious, Zia Mahmood, Michael Rosenberg, Zmudzinski and Cezary Balicki eliminated 82 teams to win this year Spingold Teams Event.

The Open Pairs, was also limited to gold life masters and international players. Zia Mahmood and Eric Kokish from Canada were seventh overall in that event.

The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors declared July 17-July 27 “Learn To Play BRIDGE WEEK”. This was in conjunction with the Los Angeles County District of the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) hosting the North American Bridge Championship.

The ACBL Summer National event was held at the Long Beach Convention Center. More than 12,000 tables served the players from all over the world. Mahmood who was declared the player of the decade at the end of 2000.

He is now in fifth place according to rankings released by the American Contract Bridge League for the current decade.