Chennai: The Winter National bridge championships will get underway at the JN Indoor Stadium on Sunday. All the top names on the national scene will vie for the glittering Ruia Gold Cup. Tough competition is also expected for the Ruia Silver Trophy.
Over 1000 players are expected to participate in the championship which is being organised here for the fifth time. Former India international Ms. Kiran Nadar, Subhas Gupta, K. Venkatraman, B. Prabhaakar, R. Tewari and B. Satyanarayan who won the Ruia Gold Cup for Formidables last year in Kolkata, will be watched with interest this time as well.
The runners-up, Poddar-Developers from Mumbai, are also here with Dipak Poddar, Jitu Solani, R.A. Agarwal and M.A. Thavre in the squad.
A strong challenge is expected from the Railways. With Sumit Mukherjee, Manas Mukherjee, Debabrata Mazumdar, all of whom have represented the country in the World Cup, and veteran Amarnath Mukherjee in its fold, Railways is reckoned as a formidable combination.
Led by the Indian team captain in the last World Cup at Eindhoven (Holland), Ashok Goel and another international Bhabesh Saha in the team, Dhampur Sugar from Delhi will also stake its claim for top honours. Texan Aces, represented by among others Venkatesh, Kaiser Ankelsaria and S. Sundaram, would also pose a strong challenge in this meet.
Hemant Jalan's team from Kolkata is rated as “a black horse.'' Consisting of Kamal Mukherjee and Debashish Roy, both of whom have played for the country a number of times, Ashish Malhotra, Ajay Bagaria and the 74-year-old Gobinda Sinha, the team can cause a surprise. In order to provide the joy of watching, analysing and understanding the nuances of the game all matches from the knock-out stage will be broadcast live on bridgebaseonline.com.
Ms. Sherien Ryan, President Tamil Nadu Bridge Association (TNBA), said that the TNBA and the Organising Committee headed by Ms. Srihari Verghese have left no stone unturned to provide best playing conditions for the participants.
Mr. Vijayakumar, Member Secretary, Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) will inaugurate the championships on Sunday.
The Hindu