On Egypt's historical list of top flight bridge players must be Magdi Shohdi, whose passion for bridge started early, writes Youmna Bassiouni Shohdi was living in England and Scotland to study for his Master's and PhD. In 1965, Manchester University offered him the opportunity to join the university bridge team at the junior level. And when moving to Scotland, he was experienced enough to become a senior player from 1968 to 1969. "Bridge was just a hobby for me, but when I returned to Egypt, I turned professional," says Shohdi. Back to Egypt in 1969, he became a board member of the Egyptian Bridge Federation (EBF). Shohdi participated in many national tournaments and joined the Heliopolis Sporting Club team from 1971-76. He introduced bridge to Kuwaiti society and found its association in 1982. He then received the American Bridge League Examination certificate as a professional referee. The test is tough; a score not less than 75 per cent is needed. Shohdi got 91.45 per cent. In 1986, he was among the finalists in the World Bridge Championship in the open air Olympiad held in Miami. "We ranked 30th out of 600 participant pairs during that time." Shohdi, who has been serving in appeal committees locally and abroad since 1972, was the only Egyptian officiator to be selected by the World Bridge Federation. He represented Egypt in the Africa, Asia and Middle East Bridge Championship in Cape Town in 1997 as a member in the law and appeal committees. In the same year, Shohdi was chosen chief tournament director in two major bridge contests in the Arab world. Playing internationally under the name of Egypt and reaching top ranks was a truly outstanding "feat for a country with no particular history in the game". On the difference between bridge played in Egypt and abroad, Shohdi believes that "bridge is more developed in European countries because their federation focuses on young players even though most of the federations around the world suffer from the lack of young bridge players. "They encourage even children to practice the game at an early age. In schools and universities, there are classes to teach bridge to students. They also motivate students by participating in contests at schools." The setting up of bridge schools for young people has begun in some clubs in Egypt, beginning with Heliopolis Club last year. Shohdi trains young bridgers but "the establishment of these schools is not enough to invite young players to practise bridge. The EBF should apply a complete system to create a new generation of bridge players from universities." He thinks that universities are very rich ground where it is easy to find talented students.
