Date:13/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/13/stories/2008111361472300.htm

Sport - Bridge

National championship gets underway

R. Jayaram

Teams will go through 15 rounds of ten board matches
32 of these teams will qualify for the mini-league

Kanpur: The 50th winter National bridge championships got under way at Kamala Nagar here with the team-of-four Swiss league for the Ashok Ruia Trophy, the Blue Riband of Indian bridge.

The event, for which the Ministry of Sports has granted a sum of Rs 2 lakhs, is sponsored by the Singhania Sports Foundation, Dr Gaur Hari Singhania and the Lohia Group.

Teams from all over the country have entered the he Ruia Trophy. These teams will go through 15 rounds of ten board matches, and 32 of these teams will qualify for the next stage of a further mini-league. The teams have been divided into two groups for the first stage of the league rounds, with 16 teams from each group going into the next stage.

The teams to watch in this event are holder, Formidables, the two teams from Indian Railways, Dhampur Sugar Mills, Tolani Shipping, India Blues, Shree Cements and Trambak Rubber.

The other trophies on offer are the Mohan Sicka BAM Trophy, the Holkar Trophy for the pairs event and the MNC and Kamalakar Trophies for the IMP pairs event. At the end of round four on Wednesday, the top four teams in each group are:

Group A: Indian Railways ‘B’ (90 victory points), Pankaj Mehta (87), Dhampur Sugar (84), India Blues (78).

Group B: Dr. P.K. Bera (89), Singhania Bridge Academy (86), NALCO (86), Poddar (84).