The pair of Syed Shujauddin Ahmed and Zahid Hossain emerged as the champions of the 33rd National Pairs Championships for the Khondkar Fazle Sobhan Trophy with 277.98 points at the Engineers’ Recreation Center in Dhaka yesterday. Maintaining superb form from the very beginning, Shuja and Zahid stamped their supremacy with the title. The pair of Khair and Latif finished second with 251.91 points while the pair of Shibnath and Pranab finished third with 252.25 points.
Eminent economist of the country Rehman Sobhan distributed the prizes among the winners as the chief guest. “The trophy commemorates the name of my father who always tried to present something to the society. Bridge has been and remain a game of intelligence and I hope Bangladesh flourish in the sport of Bridge,” said Rehman. Barrister Rownak Jahan and Farook Sobhan, the president of Bangladesh Enterprise Institute were also present among others on the occasion.
Overall, the meet was a successful one and the participants enjoyed the proceedings.
Shibnath Dey Sarkar and Pranab Bardhan, the renowned Indian pair praised the effort. “The competitive level of the tournament was high. We went through tough challenges and I am surprised to see that a good number of Bangladeshi players have good potential. They can prosper only by playing in more tournaments,” said Shibnath who has played in three World Cups and finished runner-up in the European Championship in 2010.
Badal Das and Partha Mukherjee, another Indian pair hoped Bridge will grow as a sport with the support of the sponsors. “Bridge has an established infrastructure in India and the prize money is also satisfactory. As Bridge has the potential to mark its presence, I think the sponsors will step up,” said Partha Mukherjee.
A sigh of frustration was evident in the words of Rashedul Ahsan and Moshiur Rahman, one of the leading pairs of the country. “Inclusion of the Indian players raised the competitive level of this edition. The local players also performed well. Bridge can bring international laurels with proper support. We play in just four to five tournaments in a year and definitely it is not sufficient. Moreover, we are amateurs and not professional players. If we get the proper support, we have every belief that we can mark our presence in the international arena,” said Ahsan who is an official of Karma Sangsthan Bank while Moshiur is an employee of Exim Bank.
The pair is all set to play in the 2nd Asia Cup Bridge scheduled to be held in China next June. Ahsan and Moshiur lost in the semifinal in the last edition of the World Cup qualifier held in Ahmadabad, India.