19th BFAME CHAMPIONSHIP 2017

13th April, 2017

The 19th Bridge Federation Asia & Middle East Championship 2017 (BFAME) was organized

by United Arab Emirates Bridge Committee (UAEBC) at the Holiday Inn Dubai - Al Barsha (HIAB) - as the official hospitality sponsor - from 3rd April to 11th April 2017.

His Excellency, Sheikh Nayhan Bin Mubarak Al Nayhan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, Chairman of the General Authority for Youth & Sports Welfare,

graced the occasion as Chief Guest and inaugurated the championship.

BFAME is governed by The World Bridge Federation (WBF) which is an international governing body of contract bridge responsible for global championships conducted at

international venues on a four-year cycle.The World Transnational Open Teams championships is open, without any qualification, to all teams, national or transnational, which want to participate, accordingly to the conditions of contest. After zonal competitions are held,

finalists are qualified to enter the Bermuda Bowl, for national teams, respectively for Open, Women and Seniors, representing their own countries, qualified from the eight WBF Zonal Conferences. UAE was the host for Asia and Middle East where 8 countries participated.

At grand opening ceremony, the host organizing committee presented citations and video

clippings of the top dignitaries of the World Bridge Federation and BFAME. The chairman of the organizing committee, Ahmed Al- Midfa welcomed participants and invited His Excellency

to the podium to address the gathering.

His Excellency is of the view that these championships give immense boost to Bridge in UAE and the Middle East.

He agreed that in the UAE we are committed to sustainable development in every field of endeavour, based on the universal principles of love, affection, and mutual respect of different countries and peoples. These efforts are especially evident in our achievements in the fields of Culture and Sport and will of course be echoed in Bridge, being a mind sport.

His Excellency declared the Championship open over Bridge Table by placing an opening bid along with Past President of Pakistan, Gen. (Retd.) Parvez Musharraf , in presence of BFME

organizers ; Roxana Jaffer , Darshan Valrani , Amr Mekky , Ashok Goel, Ahmed Al Midfa.

Ahmed Al-Midfa was highly grateful to His Excellency for supporting him in his endeavour of

bringing these championships to this region. He thanked the audience, players and the officials from participating countries for their presence. He also hoped that each and every participant will take back happy memories of their enjoyable stay in Dubai. Moreover, he

shared his high hopes towards this event in promoting Bridge in the UAE & the Gulf countries.

Top dignitaries of the Bridge fraternity shared their impressions on the opening Ceremony, which are given below:

Mazhar Jafri, Vice President and the representative of WBF President, graciously said:

“In my 38 years of standing in WBF attending opening ceremonies of all past World and the BFAME Championships, this Opening Ceremony presentation undoubtedly excels all the ones I have previously attended. The most notable feature besides innovative video clippings of top Bridge dignitaries was the extremely articulate and knowledgeable speech of His Excellency for which the Bridge Fraternity of BFAME owes him a debt of gratitude. I will highlight these

proceedings of the opening ceremony befittingly in my report to the WBF”.

Ashok Goel (BFAME President) and Azwerul Haque (Vice President) expressed their appreciation on well organised opening ceremony. It was a delight to hear the speech of His Excellency with such gross intent as he spoke extempore on Bridge with such consummate

ease, that it appeared of him being an accomplished Bridge enthusiast fully conversant with all Bridge ethics and related activities round the globe. His speech punctuated with humorous

anecdotes amidst spontaneous applause added a joyful ambience to the ceremony.

The Battle Began on Tuesday 4th April at Holiday Inn Dubai – Al Barsha. Players from Pakistan, Jordan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Kuwait and UAE participated in the

tournament. The game categories included Open, Women and Senior Championships.

UAE The Host for BFAME

Vugraph of the Championship The Game is On…

The BFAME Championship ended on 11th April, 2017. The closing ceremony was graced by Guest of Honor, Mr. Gianarrigo Rona (President World Bridge Federation (WBF) with a Prize

distribution ceremony followed by a commemorative dinner. Mr Ahmed Al-Midfa – (Chairman Organizing Committee) concluded the 10 day event by stating: ‘’I take this opportunity to thank

all the participants, officials & the Organizers for their co-operation in making these Championships a great Success. THANK YOU ONE AND ALL. We wish you a safe journey home. See you all again in 2019.’’

At the accolade ceremony, Roxana Jaffer CEO, of Sovereign Hotels Dubai | Holiday Inn

Dubai - Al Barsha thanked organizers and congratulated winners and participants from all countries and mentioned “We at 'Holiday Inn Al Barsha are proud to have been given the

opportunity to participate in such a ground breaking occasion as a hospitality partner. Bridge promotes respect, tolerance and welcomes diversity on the table which is synonymous to what

our host country, The United Arab Emirates does. We look forward to greater intellectual inquiry with this wonderful mind game."

And Now for the Winners and Runners up who will be attending

Lyon for the Bermuda Bowl in August 2017.

Open Teams: Winner India India beat Bangladesh in the 32 boards final of the Open Teams of the 19th BFAME

Championships to win the coveted Zakaria Adamjee Memorial Trophy, the symbol of BFAME supremacy

Team India – Ashok GOEL (Captain), K R VENKATRAMAN, P. SRIDHAR & S. SUNDERRAM.MUKHERJEE & Debbrata MAJUMDAR

Open Teams: Runners-Up BANGLADESH

Women Teams: Winner JORDAN

Team JORDAN – Dima AL TAHER, Alia M.A. RIDA,

Azza Rafat Khalil QASHU, Ramzi Al Goussous, Aaida Haider Hanna Abu

JABER, Randa a. AL SAKET & Mays Wahib Rashid AL BITTAR.

Women’s Team: Runners-Up - INDIA

Team INDIA - Sathyavati VASANTH, Bindiya NAIDOO, Alka KSHIRSAGAR, Rupa BAKERI and Marianne KARMARKAR

Vasanti SHAH

Senior Teams – Winner: India

Senior Teams: Runners-Up - Pakistan

UAE Participants who did not feature as winners, however proudly represented our

country.

END –

Download event high resolution images from this LINK

Media Enquiries: Kezia Da Rocha

Director of Marketing & Quality Assurance Tel: +97143234333 | Direct: +97147040707

kezia@hialbarsha.com

Editors Notes:

BFAME – Bridge Federation Asia Middle East and Africa is governed by The World Bridge Federation (WBF). It is international governing body of contract bridge. The WBF is responsible for world championship competitions, most of which are conducted at a few multi-event meets on a four-year cycle. The most prestigious championships are those for national teams in Open, Women, and Seniors categories. The World Bridge Federation was founded in August 1958 by delegates from Europe, North

America, and South America. It is incorporated under the laws of Switzerland as a ‘non-profit’

organization. Harold Stirling Vanderbilt was made the first honorary member of the WBF for

his work developing the game.

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