30th Sept 2024 New Delhi, Delhi, India HCL Group, a US $13.4 billion global conglomerate, today announced the successful completion of the 21st HCL International Bridge Championship. The nine-day tournament held at The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel in New Delhi saw participation from over 1000 players and 180 teams. The players competed for Rs. 2.7 crore (USD 325,000) prize purse. The tournament continues to hold its place as one of the most prestigious bridge championships in the world, boasting the largest prize pool in India and the world. This tournament has also been included in World Bridge Tour, as a ‘Category B’ event. This is the highest-rated category after world championship events organized by the World Bridge Federation.
The tournament which was held from 14th September to 22nd September saw participation from India and several other countries including the USA, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Russia, Israel, UAE, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India. The championship comprised of ‘Team of Four Gold’, ‘Team of Four Silver’, ‘Open Match Point Pairs’, ‘IMP Pairs’ and ‘Mixed IMP Pairs’. The winner’s details are as follows:
- The Naresh Tandan Trophy for the winners of Team of Four Gold event and Rs. 44 Lakh prize money – won by Team WHAM from Australia & New Zealand
- The Mohini Tandan Trophy for the winners of Team of Four Silver and Rs. 16 Lakh prize money – won by Team RSCS from India
- The Neena Bonarji Trophy for the “Open Pairs- Gold” event and Rs. 12.8 Lakh prize money – won by Team S Sunderram and P Sridharan
- Winners of the ‘Open Pairs- Silver’ event are Vinod Kumar Shaw and Sanjit Dey won a prize money of Rs. 2 lakhs.
- Winners of the IMP Pairs are TV Ramani and Subhash Ramani won a prize money of Rs. 2 lakhs.
- Winners of the new category added Mixed Pairs i.e. Gopika Tandon & Arun Jain won a prize money of Rs. 2.5 lakhs.
Speaking on the occasion, Padma Shri Mrs. Kiran Nadar, Chairperson of the Organising Committee of the championship and an acclaimed international Bridge player, Commonwealth Gold medallist and Asian Games Bronze medallist said, “I would like to congratulate all the players for their outstanding performance in this tournament. I am delighted to see that several young players have joined the tournament this year. The future of Bridge in India relies on nurturing talent at the right time, and international championships like this, hosted in the nation’s capital, provide young players with a valuable opportunity to test their skills against some of the world’s best. This is a significant step in their growth and the development of Bridge in our country.”