Pakistan outplays Sri Lanka

By Our Sports Reporter

SANGHINAGAR, JUNE 28. Bangladesh and Pakistan booked berths for the final of the Sanghi second Asia and Middle East junior bridge championship with emphatic wins in the first two rounds of the final round-robin at Sanghinagar here today.

The penultimate round - Round 8 - saw Bangladesh sweep aside India with a comprehensive 25-2 VP victory, while Pakistan also continued its dominance over Sri Lanka with a 22-7 VP win.

The tally of each team with a round go to stood at: Bangladesh 162 VPs, Pakistan 142 VPs, India 91 VPs and Sri Lanka 80 VPs.

The writing was on the wall at the end of the first match of Round 7 when Bangladesh overcame the Sri Lankan fightback by 18- 12 VPs and India which had to beat Pakistan to be in contention was sent out of the reckoning losing very badly by 4-25 VPs.

Bangladesh, which was an unknown entity, caught everyone by surprise with its consistent play.

Pakistan had its ups and down but managed to keep ahead of India and Sri Lanka to ensure its entry for the World championships scheduled to be held in Brazil this August.

Bangladesh had a roller-coaster ride through Match 6, the last of the round robin 2 on Wednesday evening.

India had to face exceptionally good play and was also the culprit for its own blunders. The Indian pairs did all they should not have done. Overbidding, shoddy hand-play, misdefending which ultimately led to a 5-25 defeat.

India started by stealing partials on the first two boards for 10 IMPs. This was the beginning of its end. Its next positive board was No.9 which fetched them 5 IMPs. In between, Bangladesh made merry on the mistakes by the hosts. The first overbid by the Indian pair in the Closed Room was on Board 4. Bangladesh pair did not get excited and stopped in 4S to end up with an over- trick but the Closed Room Indian pair went overboard by bidding 6S going one down, a mistake which costed them 13 IMPs.

Sharing the next, the Indians once again blundered on Deal 6. Overbid No.2, 5D doubled went for 500 and Bangladesh played well to take their opponents down to 3H in the other room - a two-way swing for 12 IMPs.

Another shared deal and then again a swing for Bangladesh, this time for 11 IMPs. For, India was in 4H going down against Bangladesh's 3NT making. The 7 IMPs for Bangladesh on Board 10 came from a double of 3S for 200 and making 2D. The next big score - 13 IMPs - again by being in a wrong contract. 4H down two and 3NT making.

These big scores assured Bangladesh a comfortable victory but it added another 13 IMPs on the next six deals and was courteous to India by giving away one IMP on Deal 20. The final IMP tally 69- 16 converted to 25-5 VPs.

Pakistan faced little more resistance from Sri Lanka than it got from India but still got the better of Sri Lanka by 19-11 VPs. Board 1, 5 IMPs for Pakistan and 7 IMPs on Deals 2 and 3 for Sri Lanka.

On Deal 4, Pakistan reaching a better major contract of 4S, doubled Sri Lanka's 4H for minus 4 to pick up 10 IMPs. Sri Lanka got one IMP on the next through an over-trick in a partial. Then came another 13 IMP bonanza for Pakistan. Sri Lanka overreached to 5S searching for a slam while Pakistan stopped in four. Sri Lanka made up a little ground benefiting through Pakistan reaching a wrong contract of 4S against 3NT which was reversed for 11 IMPs when Sri Lanka stopped in 2 NT when a game was on.

Pakistan bagged the contract in both rooms on Board 17 for 6 IMPs and the last exchange was on Deal 20 when Pakistan surprisingly did not cross 1NT when a game was on the cards. The IMP score read 50-32 in Pakistan's favour and the VP split was 19-11.

Rankings changed at the end of every round-robin based on the final VP scores of each team. Bangladesh shot up to the top with 119 VPs, Pakistan followed with 94 VPs pushing India to the third position with 85 VPs. Sri Lanka's poor show kept them in the fourth place with 61 VPs.

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