Sport - Bridge

Players bound for Beijing felicitated

— PHOTO: V. Ganesan

HAPPY BUNCH: The bridge players — Prashanth Sriram, Guthi Raja Sekhar, Sherien Ryan, Lakshmi Chari, K.R. Venkataraman and Vinoth Kumar Raghavan — with M.A.M. Ramaswamy (third from left), K. Murugan (fourth from left) and N.R. Kirubakaramoorthy (second from right).

CHENNAI: The six Tamil Nadu bridge players, selected to participate in the Beijing Mindsports Olympics to be held in October, were felicitated by the Mylapore Club at its premises here on Wednesday.

India’s most successful bridge player and Werner Trophy winner K.R. Venkataraman, Tamil Nadu Bridge Association Secretary and winner of the Ladies Nationals team event Sherien Ryan, Lakshmi Chari, who represented the Indian women’s team at the Rhodes Bridge Olympiad, and IITians Prashanth Sriram, Guthi Raja Sekhar and Vinoth Kumar Raghavan were the players felicitated.

They were presented mementos by the Mylapore Club president M.A.M. Ramaswamy in the presence of N. Ravi, Editor, The Hindu, K. Murugan, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Olympic Association, and N.R. Kirubakaramoorthy, President, TNBA.

Venkataraman was also presented an award for his Las Vegas pair event victory.

N. Ravi congratulated the Mylapore Club for the initiatives taken in recognising and bettering the profile of a sport like bridge.

“Bridge has made significant strides, both regionally and internationally. K.R. Venkataraman’s Werner Trophy win, the equivalent of a World Cup, is an astounding achievement that has unfortunately been under-valued and under-recognised. It is therefore fitting that he has been felicitated by the Club. The champions who have been felicitated today should serve as role models,” he said, while reiterating the need to widen the base of the sport.

The Mylapore Club president M.A.M. Ramaswamy stressed on the need to promote a sport like bridge besides the popular ones.

“Bridge is a game gaining in popularity, but not as popular as I would like it to be. Sufficient time needs to be devoted to such sports so that people are encouraged to take them up,” he said.

Venkataraman, whose achievements were deservedly recognised at the function, said the stigma associated with card games would have to disappear for the sport to gain in popularity.

“Bridge helps in developing analytical and logical skills, and can play its part in psychological analysis as well.

The game needs to be understood and projected as a mind sport,” he added.

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