Interview with Arun Bapat - "Need to dispel myth that Bridge is gambling to help it grow in India"

Srihari
Arun Bapat (third from left) – the coach of the Indian d’Orsi Trophy team (Seniors)

Bridge is a sport growing in popularity in the world. Aficionados of the sport in India are trying their best to make more people take up the sport as a passion and hosting the 42nd World Bridge Teams Championships sponsored by HCL is a step in the right direction.

We spoke to the coach of the Indian seniors team, Mr. Arun Bapat about the sport, how it is perceived in India and how the support provided by sponsors such as HCL is essential and very important for the development of the sport in the country. Here are the excerpts:

How and when did you first start playing bridge?

I learned everything from college, which is where I started playing. From there, we cultivated a habit of playing with our regular partners. When I started playing in 1980, there was hardly any literature available and no internet as well, so I started playing with friends, with very little understanding of bridge.

Did you think you could ever take up bridge as a full-time sport?

In India, this sport has a problem with our mind-set, because card playing is naturally related to gambling, so there aren’t too many sponsors. In Europe and USA, there are professional bridge players, who play the sport 365 days a year, but in India our priorities are different.

You cannot earn and have a reasonable life, only playing bridge. We don’t have enough sponsors to cultivate bridge as a full-time sport, which is the main problem. That is why we do it as a passion and haven’t taken it up as a profession.

What are the challenges facing a bridge player in India?

After this tournament, hopefully a few more sponsors will come, but in India the sponsorship is limited to just taking care of the expense and not paying professional fees. So while the tournament entry fees and expenses are taken care of, you don’t get any remuneration for playing bridge. There are few people who get paid, but even that isn’t sufficient, to have a certain lifestyle.

So our focus remains on work, which is our bread and butter and bridge is our passion. So we are not able to compete with the top players in the world, because any sport requires a lot of practice and bridge is a team game, where you need a lot of understanding with your partner. To develop that understanding you need to have a lot of discussions, deals to be played and a lot of psychology involved.

When you have to do all these things, you cannot concentrate on your work and do this simultaneously. We are not in a position where we are able to give that sort of time, to practice, but we will be able to do better if we have some sort of program developed, where we can concentrate on bridge, because it is a mind game and I’m sure that Indians can do much better in mind sports, as we have seen with chess.

So what is the major difference between Indian bridge players and those from Europe and USA?

For cultivating bridge in younger people, we are starting a program in Mumbai. But again there is a clash between their education and playing bridge. While we understand the priorities, that means they start later. Israel, who are world champions, they start playing bridge at the age of 8 and the average age of the players is in the early 20s.

Here, in this tournament, both USA teams, the average age was 26. So they are playing for 15 years starting from the age of 8, which is the time when your mind is very fertile and you can grasp the sport easily.

But India has a bridge community which is very limited and also the average is somewhere between 50 and 55. Since bridge is a mind sport, that makes it difficult. By the time you are 50, your mind start losing some of its powers and it is harder to learn. When you are young, you grasp things quicker and it is easier to learn the sport, but as is the case with any sport, the older you get, the harder it becomes for you to play.

Bapat (bottom left) and India Seniors team(Photo taken from World Bridge Federations's album)

Is it a myth that bridge is only a sport for the old?

This is a game which you can play even at the age of 8 and compete with someone who is 22. Here we have a world champion who is in his late 70s, competing with people in their 20s, I don’t think any other sport will allow you to do that. Once you grow old and retire, this keeps you busy and fresh. When you are young, playing bridge helps with your analytical thinking, ability to communicate and lots of other things. So, it helps both the young and the old in different ways, I will not define it for a particular age.

What can be done to take bridge to a younger audience?

We are going into some schools and colleges and are trying to get youngsters involved in bridge. But it is still a herculean task. But it is difficult approaching an educational institution. Playing bridge is something that is going to help you excel in both your academic and professional life, so we are trying to reward them so that they will get more attracted towards the sport. Secondly, we are also trying to get a sports quota of some sort for playing bridge, so that is recognised and students are rewarded.

We are trying to build an academy in Mumbai, which will be the first of its kind in India to cultivate and maintain certain standards with regards to bridge. We are working with the Ministry of Sport, because we can’t do it on our own.

We are trying to see how we can tie up these things and ensure that a person coming out of the academy will do so, with a certificate that will carry some weight, as an additional or extra-curricular activity, when it comes to applying a job. Doing that will certainly help dispel the myth, in the parent’s minds that bridge is only a gambling, card game.

How long do you think that will take?

I am realistic and I know that it is a long process. Perhaps it will take five to seven years, for it to reach a certain stage where it starts to become a platform.

What is the aim of this academy in Mumbai?

Our objective is to create a platform to get students into, which is government approved and carries some weightage. Lots of companies have funds allocated for sponsoring events, but unless you have a certain platform, you can’t really approach them.

Is the bigger problem, mind-set of the people or the finance?

First of all, mind-set and then sponsors. Mind-set is the main problem because still the card game is considered as bad for whatever reasons. We have World Championships, a lot of inter and intra national tournaments, that is open to anyone. Bridge is on its way to becoming an Olympic sport and is not a gambling sport. The bridge fraternity is doing all of this to ensure that the myth can be taken out of the minds of the people.

How do you increase awareness for bridge?

It has to work in both ways. Even this tournament, a world championship, a day before the tournament, I didn’t see too many media personnel. Once the tournament started, there were people covering it, but before it began, there was almost nothing. Perhaps we are falling short in our PR as well and we need to work towards a better understanding with the media, to just make them aware of the sport.

Because when people read small columns in the papers, they may not understand it, but when they read it in the papers, the sport gets credibility, because nobody is going to write about gambling, because it is a clear psychology of the people. We have to get media involved and promote the sport, because we cannot do it on our own.

Is bridge a sport or a game?

Bridge is already accepted as a sport in many countries. In India, it is accepted by the Sports Ministry as a sport. It is not just a game, but a sport.

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Edited by Staff Editor