The Indian bridge team won the bronze medal in the under-31 category of the 18th World Youth Championship played in Veldhoven, Netherlands, from July 31 to August 7. India had won medals in the ‘pairs’ section earlier. This was the country’s first medal in the ‘team’ competition.
The Indian under-31 team consisted of three pairs — Sayantan Kushari-Sagnik Roy, Pritam Das-Souvik Kar and Swarnashish Chatterjee-Wrik Chakraborty. They lost to eventual champions France in the semi-final before beating China in the bronze medal play-off.
Indian teams also took part in the under-16, under-21 and under-26 categories, but failed to finish on the podium. All four teams were coached by Shibnath Dey Sarkar, a gold medallist in the ‘pairs’ section in the 2018 Asian Games, along with Pranab Bardhan.
Incidentally, no member of the under-31 team will be seen in action in this year’s Asian Games in China. They took part in the selection trials but did not make the cut. According to the Bridge Federation of India, the senior team will participate in the World Championship in Morocco later this month.