PANAJI: The 5th Asia Cup Bridge Championship drew to a close on Saturday at the Taj Cidade de Goa, with Hong Kong China “A”, Indonesia, China “A”, and Australia emerging as the top contenders, picking up a gold medal each in the Men’s, Women’s, Mixed, and Seniors categories, respectively.
Host nation India put up a solid fight, settling for a silver and a bronze medal won by their Seniors and Men “A” teams. Additionally, India secured two more silver medals in the Pairs events. The duo of Savleen Thadani and Sadhana Gupta scored 519.11 in the Women’s group, while Subir Majumder and Sujit Kumar Bhattacharjee scored 303.60 in the Seniors group to finish second.
China, which raised big hopes up until the semifinals, had to remain content with one gold and two silver medals this time around.
Seniors and Men’s Division Results
In the Seniors category final, the Indian Seniors “B” team—comprising Hemant Jalan, Sukamal Das, Rajesh Dalal, Jitendra Solani, Anil Padhye, and Raju Tolani—faced off against Australia with a carry-over of 5.50 International Match Points (IMPs). India started poorly, scoring only 8 IMPs in the first round against Australia’s 33. The second round was evenly contested, with Australia maintaining a slender lead of 31-28 IMPs. Despite a strong Indian fightback in the final round (scoring 31 IMPs against Australia’s 16), the Australians clinched the gold with a total score of 80–72.5 IMPs. Japan secured the bronze in this section by defeating Bangladesh 153-86 IMPs.
In the bronze medal playoff for the Men’s division, India “A” (represented by Subhash Gupta, Sandeep Thakral, Sumit Mukherjee, Rajeshwar Tewari, Sagnik Roy, and Kaustabh Nandi) lived up to expectations. They defeated Bangladesh “B” by leading in all three rounds to secure a 133–99.33 IMPs victory. After a closely fought first round (37-38), Bangladesh “B” succumbed to pressure, losing the final two rounds 29-40 and 25-55 IMPs to finish fourth.
In the battle for Men’s Gold, Hong Kong China “A” retained their title, edging past strong contenders China by 105.67–99 IMPs.
Women’s and Mixed Division Results
In the Women’s section, the India “A” team, which was also contesting for a bronze medal, failed to emulate the Men’s team’s success. They trailed in all three rounds and ultimately lost to Japan by 112.67–80 IMPs.
The Mixed event was an all-China affair, witnessing China “A” win the gold by defeating their compatriots, China “B”, with a score of 97-83 IMPs. Australia claimed the bronze in this group, comfortably outplaying Hong Kong China “A” 144–70.5 IMPs.
