Date:11/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/11/stories/2008101155431800.htm

Sport - Bridge

India qualifies for the round of sixteen

R. Jayaram

Chennai: After struggling in between, the Indian open team has qualified for the round of sixteen in the Bridge Olympiad in Beijing as the fourth and last qualifier from Group ‘B’.

On Friday, the Indians beat Latvia 16-14 to collect 66 VPs for a final tally of 313 VPs to qualify fourth from the group; the Latvian team did the Indians a favour by beating Hungary 18-12 in the last round. This meant Hungary, a strong contender, finished fifth with 307 VPs — six behind the Indians.

Gallant recovery

Lying third in its group at the end of the 12th round with 222 Victory Points, it looked like India would lose badly to Sweden on Wednesday until the very last deal when both Sunit Choksi and Satyanarayana bid and made games in the two different rooms for a double game swing which won the team 10 VPs.

The Indians began their round 14 against the second placed Netherlands very well and, at the half way stage of the match, were in front with a lead of 28 IMPs. Thereafter, disaster struck when the pair of Subhash Gupta and Rajesh Dalal overstretched on a combined HCP of 23 points and reached a small slam in diamonds, promptly doubled and went down for 1400, non-vulnerable.

Further drama

Further drama followed in the very last deal of this match. Choksi played in five clubs and received a favourable trump lead, but went one down on an easy contract. Fortunately for the Indians, the Dutch stretched to six clubs and went down one for a scratch board. A match that the Indians could have easily won was tied at 15-15 and they slipped to fifth position.

But, the win over Latvia — and Hungary’s loss — earned India a passage to the next round.

At one stage, the Indian Youth team (under-28) was in with a chance for a quarterfinal berth in the 74-country field. Lying fifth at the end of round 13 and eighth after 14 rounds, it lost badly to Belgium in the last round to end up 15th.

The other three Indian teams — the seniors, the ladies and the juniors (under-26) — did nothing of note during the tournament.

The last sixteen:

From Group-A: Italy (337), Brazil (304), Estonia (302), France or Romania (286.50). From Group-B: Israel (343), The Netherlands (329), China (314), India (313). From Group-C: Norway (346.50), Poland (336.50), Bulgaria (316), Belgium (293). From Group-D: Germany (353), England (324), USA (323), Turkey (318).