Slim chance for India to qualify for the Bermuda Bowl knock out phase

Action from the World Bridge Championships

The first phase of the thrills of the sport has arrived with each team in the higher rungs vying with each other to reach the top of the table even as India virtually ended its hopes in the Bermuda Bowl event while the seniors eye a chance in the dÓrsi trophy at the end of the 18th round of round robin matches in the HCL-42ndWorld bridge team championship here on Friday.

Bulgaria is the leader in the Bermuda event with Poland a few VPs behind. China, which had led the field for a while came down to third while the formidable USA 1 is in eighth. India lay in the 13th spot and looking very unlikely to make it into the top eight with just three rounds remaining. Bulgaria’s gain was India’s loss for the 56-23 IMPs (17.17-2.83 VPs) win of the former helped it zoom to the top place. Right from start Subir Majumder / Rana Roy (open) and Sumit Mukherjee/Debabrata Majumdar could do little as the early swings took the Bulgarians way ahead. The seniors won its third match on trot, the last over Tunisia 53-36 IMPs (14.39-5.61 VPs) and that ensured they remained in the 10th place with an outside chance of a possible top-eight berth. There was no cheer for the women, with Australia inflicting its next defeat 49-36 IMPs (13.52-6.48 VPs).

The highlights of the 18th round otherwise was USA 1 forcing China to a draw (33-33 IMPs) after trailing till last board and Japan’s win over formidable England (41-24 IMPs) in the Bermuda event. In the seniors, USA 2 ‘s win over Australia 62-35 IMPs that pushed the latter from the leader-place.

India started the day on 11th position with a score of 161.91 VPs and had to be in top gear to be in contention for the last-8 stage. Round 16 was against the formidable USA2, a team, which also going all four qualification. Expectedly it was a tough match. Midway India led 12-11 and then on board 26, Indian pair of Sumit Mukherjee and Debabrata Majumder (closed room) did exceedingly well in bidding six diamonds, fetching them 12 IMPs. USA2 however came back strongly and with 2 boards to go inched ahead ( 28-27). The visitors gained 12 IMPs on the penultimate board . Though India gained 5 IMPs on the last board, the match was lost 32-40 IMPs (7.71-12.29 VPs). Among other matches in this section, Singapore which trailed Sweden by 27 IMPs after 3 boards made an excellent comeback and won the match by 55-33 IMPs. In another surprise, Guadeloupe defeated Canada 65-19 Imps.

In round-17 India, playing Denmark, suffered further setback. Denmark took a 29-0 lead after four boards. Though India recovered 10 IMPs on board six, Sumit and Subir Majumder (open) and Rana/ Amarnath) could not escape defeat by 30-40 IMPs (7.2-12.8 VPs). India slipped here to 12th place with 176.82 VPs. The highlight in this round was the defeat of the powerful USA1 team against United Arab Emirates .

The Indian Women team lost round-16 and 17 to New Zealand (31-55 IMPs (4.26 – 15.74VPs) and England by 2-81 IMPs (0-20 VPs) respectively in the Venice Cup.

The Senior team defeated Pakistan 47-43 IMPs (11.20-8.80 VPs) first thing in the morning in the d’Orsi cup. And followed it up with a 38-20 IMPs (14.60-5.40 VPs) effort over Japan to remain in place 10.

Rankings: Bermuda: 1 Bulgaria (231.20 VPs); 2.Poland 225.45; 3 China 224.47; 4.England 223.03; 5.France 216-05; 6. Brazil 214.07; 7. USA 2 208.72; 8. USA 1 203.84

Venice Cup: 1. Denmark (265.33); 2. Italy ( 253.55); 3. Netherlands (249.26); 4. USA 2 247.29); 5. USA 1 246.07; 6. France 240.30; 7. China 231.22; 8. England 228.54

d’Orsi: 1. USA 1 249.04; 2. Australia 247.00; 3. USA 2 239.68; 4. Ireland 230.01; 5. England 219.53; 6. Poland 217.92; 7. Norway 216.32; 8. Austria 215.69