Khurshid Hadi quits, Tariq Rasheed takes over

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

There is a change of guard at the Pakistan Bridge Federation (PBF) following the resignation of three-time President Khurshid Hadi and the appointment of Honorary Secretary Tariq Rasheed Khan as Acting President till his formal ratification by the Board at their next meeting.

It has been officially announced by the PBF informed that Tariq Rasheed, having taken over from Ashfaq Yousuf Tola as the Honorary Secretary of the PBF four years ago, will be the caretaker President and he is expected to convene a Board of Directors meeting in a couple of weeks time.

There is not much element of surprise behind the move. Khurshid Hadi was having a quiet time from his own high standards of late and his last tenure didn’t bring about the kind of turnaround that was being anticipated.

Khurshid Hadi has had the reputation of doing things on a fast track but for some reasons he was unable to make things happen as far as bridge was concerned in the recent past. He’s not one man who was going to hang around without making a worthwhile contribution.


In fact he had made it clear to one and all at the time of accepting the office of the President of the PBF for the third time that he will only continue if he was successful in getting things done in a big way.

Khurshid Hadi, in the official handout, has cited his responsibilities as head of the Mind Sports Association of Pakistan (MSAP) as his main focus of attention and that the PBF needed someone who could devote focus and single-minded effort to promote the game and monitor the organization.

Khurshid Hadi himself stressed that Tariq Rasheed is unquestionably the right man to succeed him and that the head of all regional associations had fully endorsed his decision.

The PBF spokesman has announced that the continued collaboration with the MSAP for the development of bridge at college levels would ensure Khurshid Hadi's active involvement in bridge activities.

Khurshid Hadi, the spokesman revealed, is to be voted as President Emeritus of the federation in recognition of his contribution to the sport of bridge in particular. He had first become the President of the PBF in 1998 after having organized the landmark Golden Jubilee Independence Day International Bridge Championship in 1997.

He was re-elected by consensus as the President of the federation following the resignation of Rehana Saigol soon after the BFAME Championship 2007 that was also very well organized.

Tariq Rasheed had earlier been appointed as the officiating President of the PBF last year in the absence of Khurshid Hadi, who remained abroad for quite a few months.

Tariq Rasheed has proved himself an outstanding bridge administrator in a very short span of time. His visionary project of the Pakistan Bridge University (PBU) has gone a long way in promoting the mind sport from the grassroots level. In fact the PBU has now become the lifeline for the Pakistan bridge.

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