Indian U-31 bridge team reaches semis at World Youth Team Championships

Indian U-31 youth team overcame spirited Bulgarian players as they pipped them 128-126 for a berth into the semifinals at the 18th World Youth Team Championships at Veldhoven, Netherlands.

India U-31, led by captain Shib Nath Deysarkar, the 2018 Asian Games gold medallist, next meet France in the semifinal, with China and Belgium squaring off in the other semifinal. The other pairs of the Indian squad are Sayantan Kushari- Sagnik Roy, Pritam das – Souvik Kar, and Swarnashish Chatterjee - Wrik Chakraborty.

Four teams represented India at the Team Championships in the U-16, U21, U-26 and U-31 categories.

After the league phase played between July 31 to August 4, eight of the top teams in each category moved to the knockout phase. The U-31 team finished second among 20 teams behind group leaders China.

In the quarterfinal on August 5, the Indian team made a shaky start in a four-session match of 14 boards each.

They ended the opening session 14-34, before recovering strongly to win the second session 52-20 for a 12 IMP overall lead.

The Bulgarian players started the third session strongly and overcame the deficit on the second board and were soon led by 23 IMPs. A late recovery by the Indian team saw them finish the session 35-41 for a 6 IMP overall lead going into the fourth and final session.

By the halfway stage of the final session, the Bulgarians had not only erased the deficit but built up a commanding 20 IMP lead. But the Indians clawed their way back and finally ended the session 27-31 for a hard-fought 2 IMP win.