Hangzhou [China], October 5 (ANI): The Indian men’s bridge failed to secure a win in one and two sessions in the final match of the men’s team bridge event at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Thursday.
In the first session of the final match, India failed to clinch a comfortable win against Hong Kong and lost the game by 32-55. In the second session, India was unable to make a comeback in the game and lost by 46-29.
The bridge men’s team final match will be a six-round contest. The third session will be played later on Thursday, and the rest of the rounds will held on Friday.
In the semi-final, India squared off against China and outplayed them by 2-1 and made their place in the final match and guaranteed India atleast a silver medal in the event.
In the bridge qualification round at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou, India qualified second for the men’s team semi-finals with 278.93 points after 266 boards.
However, the Indian women’s and mixed teams failed to make their way into the bridge semi-finals. India finished seventh with 106.83 points in the women’s bridge team event. The Indian mixed team scored 234.57 points, only 15.66 points shy of a semi-final spot and finished in fifth place.
India’s Asian Games 2023 bridge squad:
Men’s team: Jaggy Shivdasani, Sandeep Thakral, Rajeshwar Tiwari, Sumit Mukherjee, Raju Tolani and Ajay Khare, Reserve 1: Kaustabh Bendre and Sayantan Kushari.
Mixed team: Kiran Nadar, B Satyanarayana, Himani Khandelwal, Rajeev Khandelwal, Marianne Karmarkar and Sandeep Karmarkar, Reserve 1: Hema Deora and Rana Roy.
Women’s team: Asha Sharma, Puja Batra, Alka Kshirsagar, Bharti Dey, Kalpana Gurjar and Vidya Patel, Reserve 1: Richa Shriram and Meenal Thakur.
The bridge events at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou started on September 27 and will conclude on Friday.
India currently stands in fourth place with a total of 84 medals, which includes 21 gold, 31 silver, and 32 bronze medals. (ANI)
