The Hindu : Sport : Mixed luck for Indian Open team

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 04, 2007
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Sport

Mixed luck for Indian Open team

R. Jayaram

Chennai: The uncertainties of most games were in ample evidence as the Indian Open team recovered gallantly — creating an unprecedented sensation in between — in the 10th and 11th rounds of the Bermuda Bowl of the World bridge championship at Shanghai, before faltering badly in the 12th round on Wednesday.

At the bottom of the rung up to the ninth round, the team (Ashok Goel, Kamal Mukherjee, Debasish Roy, Pritish Kushari, Kamal Roy and Aloke Sadhu) won their 10th round against Canada, 24-6. Immediately thereafter, they trounced USA-2 that included five players (Dick Freeman, Bob Hamman, Jeff Meckstroth, Eric Rodwell and Nic Nickell) who have several world titles to their credit, 22-8.

What was even more amazing was the fact that the Americans were able to collect just two international match points in a 16-board match!

Outplayed

But, the Indians were then outplayed (6-24) by one of the front-runners in the 12th round, Poland, leaving them where they started.

There was an upset in the Venice Cup as well. The lowly placed Jordan women’s team — which had beaten India in a sensational final during the BFAME Championships in Karachi in May this year — upset the toppers and strong contenders for the title USA-1 in the 10th round, 19-11.

The Indian women’s and seniors teams are both still in with a chance to reach the last eight in the Venice Cup and Seniors Bowl respectively. The ladies have a tally of 175 VPs, which is just 10 VPs behind eighth placed Egypt. Likewise, the Indian seniors have a total of 183 VPs, which is 14 VPs behind eighth placed Australia in the Seniors Bowl.

With nine more league rounds to go, making up these differences could well be possible. USA-1 teams in both the Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup continue to occupy the top berths in their respective categories.

In the Seniors Bowl however, there is a new leader in Canada The top eight at the end of 12 rounds: Bermuda Bowl: USA-1 (231), Poland (217), Italy (212), Australia (196), Norway (196), Netherlands (195.5), China SMEG (193), South Africa (185.5). Venice Cup: USA-1 (230), Germany (217), China Global Times (209), France (209), Denmark (200), USA-2 (191), Argentina (189) and Egypt (185). Seniors Bowl: Canada (231), Italy (229), USA-1 (213), USA-2 (210), Indonesia (207), Poland (203), France (199) and Australia (197).