Date:06/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/06/stories/2008100655961700.htm

Sport - Bridge

Good day for Kiran Nadar’s Formidables

R. Jayaram

Chennai: Kiran Nadar’s Formidables, the representative Indian team in the Open event at the Bridge Olympiad in Beijing, hit a purple patch on Sunday by winning both its matches against Korea and Jamaica and taking the top spot in Group B.

With the sixth round match against Scotland still to be scored, the Indian team has a tally of 101 Victory Points after five rounds.

After a further eleven rounds in this all-play-all format, four teams from this group will qualify for the round of sixteen.

On Monday, the Indians take on Austria, a comparatively easier match but after that they have two tough matches against Hungary and China in the afternoon.

In the other groups, Norway is at the top in Group C with a tearaway lead of one match over its nearest rival Poland.

Italy, which is looking for a hat-trick of wins in this event, is leading in Group A and USA is in front in Group D.

Youth team fifth

Keeping pace with their Open team members is the Indian Youth team led by NPC, Anand Samant, which has as its members, Prasenjit Das, Sandip Datta, Sapan Desai, Praveen Kashelkar, Anurag Mohota and Aniket Sanghvi.

After six of the seventeen round Swiss league format, the team is in the fifth position in a field of 74 countries with a tally of 116 Victory Points, just 16 behind leader Poland.

Eight top teams qualify for the quarterfinals in this event.

The Indian seniors team also bounced back after a miserable first day.

They collected 62 Victory Points (out of a maximum of 75) in three matches on Sunday to be in the seventh spot in their group, just one match behind group leader Canada. Eight teams qualify from this group for the round of sixteen after nine more rounds.