Bardhan, Sarkar top in Bridge

Pranab Bardhan became the oldest man in Indian contingent to win a medal at the 18th Asian Games as he joined forces with Shibhnath Sarkar to clinch Gold in men's pair event of the bridge competition on Saturday.

The 60-year-old Bardhan and his 56-year old partner finished the men's pair event with a score of 384 as they edged out China's Lixin Yang and Gang Chen, who finished with 378 points after five round of competition.

Bridge made its debut at the Asian Games, this year.

Indonesia's Henky Lasut and Freddy Eddy Manoppo finished third with 374 points to claim one of the two places on the podium along with Hong Kong's Mak Kwok Fai and Lai Wai Kit, who had 373 points.

Another Indian pair in the fray, Sumit Mukherjee and Debabrata Majumder finished ninth with a score of 333 while Subhash Gupta and Sapan Desai ended at the 12th position.

"I could not sleep last night and ate only fruit in breakfast. It's tough, the blood circulation shoots up with tension, we beat China and Singapore, it's great result for us," said an elated Sarkar, who is a teacher at Jadavpur University.

Bardhan, who had a construction business, said, "Bridge is more challenging than chess. It's the most competitive indoor game."

In mixed pair, India's Bachiraju Satyanarayana and Kiran Nadar finished fifth to miss out of a medal after scoring 333 in the final.

Another Indian pair in fray, Rajeev Khandelwal and Himani Khandelwal finished at the seventh spot with a score of 329.

In women's pair event, Hema Deora and Marianne Karmarkar ended their campaign at the seventh place with a score of 349.

India finished third overall with one Gold and two Bronze medals.

India had won a Bronze each in men's team and the mixed team events.

Coach looks hopeful

Moments after Kolkata duo Pranab Bardhan and Shibnath Sarkar clinched the men's pair bridge Gold in the Jakarta Asian Games on Saturday, Indian men team's non-playing captain and coach Debasish Ray said he now hopes more youngsters would take up the sport.

"I feel the moment of reckoning has finally arrived for the sport. I hope the youngsters will finally take up bridge after the Asian Games success," Ray said.             

 "I'm on phone since the news has spread, and both my lines are busy, so much so that I'm still to talk to them (Bardhan and Sarkar) after they won. But I'm very happy as we badly wanted this to happen. Finally there will be awareness for bridge," an ecstatic Ray added.

In a sport where the average age is 50-plus in India, Ray feels the youngsters involvement will improve the quality by leaps and bounds.

Terming it the most-scientific mind game, Ray said: "It's more advanced than chess. It has got higher number of permutation and combinations that you won't believe."

"But let me tell you, it will be highly beneficial for the youngsters if they take up bridge. It's a mind game. But nobody ever cared for our sport; it's mostly confined to veterans now," the 61-year-old said.