CHENNAI: The sprawling Madras Gymkhana club was sporting a festive look as players from across south India converged to compete at the 54th Madras Gymkhana Club Annual Open Bridge Tournament, a South Zone Category B Ranking tournament, on Friday.
On Friday, in the jam-packed hall, where everyone was busy studying the cards in hand, literally, one could not miss the presence of KR Venkataraman, popularly known as "Venky," who is considered a highly-accomplished India player. He has won major international titles like the Wernher Trophy at the North American Bridge Championships with partner Sunit Chokshi. An IIT alumnus, Venkataraman has represented India at World Championships as well.
"The sport (bridge) has developed very well, to say the least," said Venkataraman. "What was once a pastime has now become semi-professional. Not fully professional, but semi-professional. It has been attracting a lot of youngsters. That is important for the sport to sustain, develop, and reach."
"This Madras Gymkhana Club tourney is one of the premier tournaments of the country. People from different states come here. And the top talent in Tamil Nadu is also playing. So the contests are very closely fought," said Venkataraman. "Clubs have played an important role. You have to distinguish between the types of players. Middle and older players will play in the clubs. But you have to go to the schools and colleges to popularize the sport."
Venkataraman felt that attracting youngsters to a sport with not much of money would always be a challenge.
Sridhar, 75, has been playing the game for over 45 years. "Over the years, in this part of the world, or rather country (India), it has been slow picking up, because largely this game is played in the US, UK, Italy, and other European countries. We do have some international players, especially in Chennai. Concentration of top players is either in Chennai, Mumbai, or Kolkata," said Sridhar.
Results: VIVA Carbon Match point Mixed Pairs (79 pairs): 1. Koushik Mukherjee-Meenal Thakur 73.7%; 2. Aditi Jhaveri-Biswajit Poddar 70.9%; 3. Rajesh Shah-Manjula 63.3%; 4. Aparajitha Iyer-P Naryana Iyer 76.2%; 5. BS Geetha-Ramakrishna Majumder 58.4%.
Vimala Singaram Trophy: Women Pairs (34 Pairs): 1. Amulya Rao Atluri-Malini Krishna: 572.38; 2. Raksha Mehta-Sumathi Iyer: 513.76; 3. Pooja Jalan-Kavita Saiprasad: 506.38; 4. Haripriya Bapuji-Nalini Balachander: 502.38; 5. Uma Shankar-Viji Srinivasan: 495.81.