Bridge: A game of wits that needs recognition

CHENNAI: For bridge enthusiasts excitement is mounting. From this Saturday the 42nd edition of the World Bridge Championship unfolds at the Hotel ITC Chola international here. For a sport that has never received the kind of patronage which Government and sponsors give in Europe and USA, this is a big moment and a dream come true as a World Championship arrives in the country for the first time.

For two veteran bridge players K.R. Venkataraman and R. Krishnan, this event is something even more special. Both of them are part of the Indian senior team for the d’Orsi trophy and will be playing right in their home town. “Yes, I will say it is an advantage. The local conditions would mean we do not need to adjust to anything new,” said Mr Krishnan, an IIT alumini who took to the sport over four decades ago while studying in the premier Institute.

“We started playing in the hostel and soon it became a deep involvement,” he said of the early days. “I was into chess until then and used to play that regularly until bridge changed my track,” he quipped. For Krishnan this is first appearance in the World championship proper having represented India in several international events and also in the zonal competitions that lead to the World Championship qualifications.

Mr Venkataraman, a former State Bank senior executive, has previous experience of competing on the World platform. “I participated for India in the Bermuda bowl even five times and on three occasions our team had come to the quarterfinal, the farthest that India had gone in World championship,” he said. As one who virtually sacrificed his banking career, taking an early VRS, to fully concentrate in bridge, a passion he developed over two decades ago, it saddened him that the sport did not have exposure that it has in European and Western nations.

“In countries there, bridge is part of the school curriculum and the sport also had a strong junior development programme. Its salutary effect on the young minds is well acknowledged and when we go to events there it is striking to see so many young competitors,” he said. Besides, he said, bridge is a professional sport there with good patronage from government and private sector. “it is the kind of exposure to various kind of tournament, and there are plenty of international events through out the year, that make players from these continents ahead of others, particularly us,” he said.

Mr Venkataraman said bridge like chess is a true mind sport where the thinking process, decision making and stimulation of the mind make it truly energizing. “ You have pieces on the board to play chess and we have cards in bridge. I wish we played bridge with something else. May be the sport would have been much better of,” he said, tongue in cheek, considering the stigma that has needlessly been linked with card games.

For a country where bridge is at best a amateur sport, for a major event like the World championship to come to India is something significant, according to these veterans. “For this the BFI and its President Mr Kirubakaramoorthy and his team, need to be commended,” they said. There are signs of recognition now at the governmental level for this sport that genuinely needs support. As all bridge fans do, these two veterans too are praying that the Chennai event would help start a new chapter for bridge in India.