Pak women's bridge team creates history with Asian event win for first time in 30 years

The national women's bridge team of Pakistan has created history by winning the Bridge Federation of Asia and Middle East Zonal Championship 2013 title for the first time since the inception of the tournament 30 years ago.

Pakistan beat hosts and defending champions India 94-53 International Match Points (IMP) in the final of the championship in Ahmedabad, with the women's event also featuring teams from Palestine and Sri Lanka, the Express Tribune reports.

Although the Pakistan women's team was touted as the under-dogs; however, the report said that it exceeded its own expectations in stark contrast to the men's teams in both seniors and open team events, which failed to qualify for the finals on Monday.

Stating that the woman's team created history as it was the first time it had won the title, Fatima Raza, who played in the championship along with her mother and her maternal grandmother, said that the title represented the determination of the country's female bridge players in this tournament.

Expressing her happiness at having won the international tournament after months of hard work, Raza said that the tournament is even more special to her as her grandmother has won the event after participating in it ten times before in the past.

The report further said that the women's team had earlier qualified for the Bermuda Bowl World Championship to finish first along with India as the runners-up.

Raza, who was paired with her mother in the championship, further said that the teams' greatest strength was its composure under a high-pressure match against India during the final that won it the Vinodini Goenka Trophy.