Asian Games reignites hope
The beginning
The decline & slow rise
Getting break through ads
Bill & Melinda Gates connect
“Arun Jain donated Rs 60,000. The blog also helped in landing a donation worth $1000 from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The collection generated was enough to start the club. We rented a room in the village. Eight tables were bought. This time, we decided to connect school children with the sport and targeted class 6 and 7 students. The efforts paid dividends as we got a new generation of players which also includes Kalpana and Vidya. Later, the village panchayat gave us a room where the club named Kisan Bridge Club is being run,” said Verma.
Come September, the entire village will be following the fortunes of Kalpana and Vidya. A medal will give them hope and reason to pursue the sport with zest. And ensure the legacy of Raibidpura is kept alive.
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Online training
I have been training online since 2019. This has helped us a lot as even the Covid-19 pandemic couldn’t stop us from training. As far as the ladies’ team is concerned, we train online regularly. Ahmedabad-based coach Vinay Desai has been helping us with the training.
— Kalpana Gurjar, India bridge player
Bridge taught us to take risks
In bridge, there is a high chance of getting success if you do not refrain from taking risks. I think that ability to take risks has helped the villagers in other aspects of life including farming where they have navigated into growing non-traditional crops. Besides, it has also developed a bond among the villagers, which I suppose led to a peaceful society with a low crime rate — Kamal Verma, school teacher and bridge player
India squad:
Open teams: Jaggy Shivdasani, Sandeep Thakral, Rajeshwar Tiwari, Sumit Mukherjee, Raju Tolani and Ajay Khare Reserve 1: Kaustabh Bendre and Sayantan Kushari; Coach: Mr Joyjit Sensarma; Mixed Team: Kiran Nadar, B Satyanarayana, Himani Khandelwal, Rajeev Khandelwal, Marianne Karmarkar and Sandeep Karmarkar Reserve 1: Hema Deora and Rana Roy; Coach: Vinay Desai; Ladies Team: Asha Sharma, Puja Batra, Alka Kshirsagar, Bharti Dey, Kalpana Gurjar and Vidya Patel Reserve 1: Richa Shriram and Meenal Thakur; Coach: Anal Shah