CHENNAI: When the 54th Madras Gymkhana Club Open bridge tournament got underway, brothers Adhiyaman (14) and Agilan (10) were the cynosure of all eyes. Regarded as the most promising pair in the sport of bridge, the duo from Puducherry had dominated the U16 age-group events both at home and away. Though they did not win at the event that ended on Sunday, it was a good exposure for them in the Open category.
Students of Aristo Public School, Cuddalore, the brothers have already caught the attention of the veteran players. Noted and legendary bridge player KR Venkatraman sees a lot of potential in them. "I have told their mother (about talent). Both are extremely talented and potentially likely to go further forward in this game provided they have good coaching," said Venkatraman.
Their parents — Zodypache and Vedudaleselvy — introduced them to the bridge in 2022. Their journey began close to home as the Puducherry Amateur Bridge Association has been functioning in their native village of Kuruvinatham, located about 20 km from Puducherry. Their first mentor was Sankaran, who laid the foundation, followed by structured training under renowned coaches including Parimala Vahalia (Gujarat), Sunderram (Chennai) and MRJ Vasudevan (Chennai). Under this guidance, they rapidly progressed from local tournaments to national and international platforms.
Over the past year, Adhiyaman and Agilan have been regular participants in EA Bridge tournaments, where they finished on the podium on three occasions. The EA management has strongly supported their development by exempting entry fees and extending travel assistance of `2,000 per tournament. Zodypache gives an inside view of how it all began. "During COVID, I decided to take part in online bridge classes. It was initially very difficult for me to understand the game. At home, my sons Adhiyaman and Agilan used to play rummy with me. Seeing their interest in card games, I decided to enrol them in bridge classes along with me. That decision became a turning point in their lives. From that moment, their journey in the game of bridge began," said Zodypache.
In 2021-22, Adhiyaman participated in the National Bridge Championship and secured first place in the individual event. Following this success, he was selected to attend the National Coaching Camp, where his skills were further refined. From then on, both Adhiyaman and Agilan became regular podium finishers in national-level tournaments. The brothers participated in two HCL International Bridge Tournaments and one EA International Tournament, gaining valuable exposure against seasoned players. Notably, they have also represented India at the World Youth Teams Championships, where they reached the semi-finals in the U-16 category. They also took part in the 19th World Youth Teams Championship held at Salsomaggiore, Italy in July 2025.
Most recently, Adhiyaman and Agilan have been provisionally selected to represent India in the ensuing World Bridge Transitional Championship, scheduled to be held in China later in August this year. They recently teamed up with U-21 players Kunj and Vineeth to form a team named "Boyz". The team participated in the Tolani Non-Master Team Tournament, which was conducted online last month. Competing against strong and experienced teams from across the country, Team Boyz delivered an impressive performance and qualified for the semi-finals. The semifinal matches are scheduled to be held on January 24-25 in Mumbai, marking another significant milestone in the young careers.
Veteran Venkatraman is willing to help the youngsters and also has a few suggestions to improve their game. "I have been trying to tell their mother for quite some time now that they need to do two or three things at this point in their career. One is they need to read more material. There is a lot of literature about bridges, just like chess. Second, they need a good coach. And third, they need exposure. But as school going children, it is very difficult (exposure). Finally, I have told them already that I am willing to help. These days you do not have to be physically present. It is not very difficult, you can learn online, Venkatraman said.
Meanwhile the winners in various categories were awarded at a glittering function on Sunday at the club premises.
Results: Vimala Singaram Trophy Ladies pairs. Winner: Amulya Rao Atluri/Malini Krishna; Runner up: Raksha Mehta/Sumathi Iyer; 3rd: Pooja Jalan Kavitha Saiprasad; VIVA Carbon Cup Mixed Pairs: Winner: Koushik Mukherjee/ Meenal Thakur; Runner up: Aditi Jhaveri/Biswajit Poddar; 3rd: Rajesh Shah/Manjula; EA Bridge Trophy IMP Pairs: Winner: Gopinath Manna/ Debabrate Majumder; Runner up: V Mohan Rao/ D Sudhanand; 3rd: Pranab Roy/ Joyrup Mullick; EA Bridge Trophy IMP Pairs Starta: Winner: JV Ramana Murthy/JS Sekhar; Runner up: Leela Iyengar/ A Chakravarthy; 3rd: K Balakrishnan/ Srikar Palem;
Rajsriya Trophy Masterpoint Pairs: Winner: Rana Roy/ Satyabrata Mukherjee; Runner up: K R Venkataraman/Vijay Devadass; 3rd: N Niranjan/P Kannan; Rajsriya Trophy Masterpoint Pairs Starta: Winner: Gautam Chatterjee/ Sagar Bhuia; Runner up: Balaram /CK Sridhar; 3rd: Afshar Majeed/ R Sreekrishan; TTK Healthcare trophy Swiss league: 1. Omega (Ramaratnam Krishnan, Asamks Demel, CM Kulkarni, K Durgadas); 2. Clean Sweep (Prahlad Rajkumar, Raghavendra Rajkumar, Koushik Mukherjee, Priya Ranjan Sinha); 3. Eisk (Sumit Mukherjee, Pijus Kanti Baroi, Sanjit Dey, Binod Kumar Shaw); Deepadhaar (Deepa Jacob, Rajesh K Jain, Ramkrishna Majumder, Prasun Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Prosenjit Manna).