FORMIDABLES, DHAMPUR SUGAR, PRAYAS and EISK leading in the GOLD event Semi-final of 19th HCL International Bridge Championship

Khel Today Bureau

Gurugram: On day 4 of the tournament, the quarter-finals (4 * 14 boards) of the GOLD event commenced. In the first quarter-final, FORMIDABLES, one of the top Indian teams beat TEXAN ACES by 110-72. In the 2nd quarter-final, HOPE AND PREY had the better of the strong MAVERICKS, a team consisting of American & Indian players, by 167-90. The Mavericks team had Zia Mahmood, one of the best bridge players in the world. Team DHAMPUR comfortably beat the RAMPAGE team by 174-72. In the 4th quarter-final, MINDANDMATTER defeated Toratae by 106.67 – 102 in a cliffhanger match.

Yesterday, on day 5, in the Semi-final matches (4*14 boards), FORMIDABLES was leading against the MINDANDMATTER team by 127-43 at halfway stage of the match. In the 2nd semi-final team, DHAMPUR SUGAR was leading by 84-45 against HOPE AND PREY. Today in the semi-final matches (4*14 boards), after 2 sessions, PRAYAS was leading by 59.3 – 41 against LUCKY 6. In the 2nd semi-final, EISK were leading 67-66 against PRADEEP.

Zia Mahmood, one of the best bridge players in the world.

The winners of yesterday will qualify for the finals to be played on Sunday. There will also be a play-off match for the 3rd & 4th places.

In the quarter-finals of the Silver event held yesterday, LUCKY SIX, EISK, PRADEEP & PRAYAS had qualified for the semi-finals.

The 2nd elimination round of the open MP Pair event was also played yesterday. 112 pairs participated out of which the top 48 Pairs qualified for the 3rd elimination round being played today. They were joined by 18 pairs from the losing quarter-finalist teams. The 66 pairs are playing in 3 sections of 11 tables each. The top 1-27 ranked pairs will play in the Match Point Pair GOLD Final, whereas pairs ranked 28-53 will play in the Match Point Pair SILVER Final. The rest of the 13 pairs will join the IMP Pairs final.

A total of 106 pairs participated In the Match Point Pairs STRATA – II event played yesterday. The winner of the event was PRAKASH GUPTA & SOMNATH MITRA.

The IMP Pairs event started today with 172 Pairs participating in the event. 65 pairs will qualify for the IMP Pairs final, to be played on Sunday. The non-qualifiers can play in the IMP Pairs STRATA-II event.