India stamped its presence on the world bridge scene this week with an excellent show at the 3rd European Open Bridge Championships. The Indian team Texan Aces reached the finals, losing to the French team Bessis 117-91 in a hard fought contest. This is the first time that an Indian team has gone past the quarterfinal stage in a major international championship. If you're wondering why an Indian team would call itself that, it's because the team captain, G. Venkatesh, is nicknamed "Texas" back in sunny California, where he lives now.
It says something about my life when I pick up Hugh Kelsey's Advanced Play at Bridge for casual reading on a train journey, and forget to watch the India - South Africa cricket match but remember to watch the aforementioned bridge final. But I am not alone. My partner for the chennai club scene asseverates that he will join me for our weekly game at the T.Nagar social club even if he has to come straight from his office. My friends who graduated with me from IITM two years ago, now spread across different time zones, still find time for the occasional online game. The Indian Bridge Federation has started conducting a Junior National Bridge Championship every year, in which travel and other expenses for all players are compensated. The IIT Kharagpur bridge team even has a coach, Sumit Mukherjee, who is a member of the Texan Aces team - or at least, they had when I last met them.
It is a sad but true fact that Indian sports fail to get infrastructure unless our performance on the international circuit is good. This throws us in a vicious loop, for unless we have the funds to coach young players, how will we do well? Look at the chess scene in India before and after Viswanathan Anand... happened, for lack of a better word. Today, nobody will dare underestimate an Indian player at an international chess tourney. Bridge needs a similar revolution, but I am confident that it is not far away. Indian teams have been consistently improving in their performance at world championships, and with a little encouragement for the junior players, we will be on par with the best teams in the world pretty soon.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
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2 comments:
And the folks who arent fanatic about Bridge will only hear about it at the stage when we are doing well on the world stage... Dont you think that this could also be a part of the reason for ppl not paying as much attention..
:) uhahhahahhaaaaa
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