Asian Games: Indian Men’s Pair Win Historic Gold Medal in Bridge

This is the third medal in Bridge for India at this year’s Asian Games.

• Pranab Bardhan (60) and Shibnath Sarkar (56) clinched the gold medal in the Bridge men’s pair event
• India scored 384 points in the finals, ahead of China’s Lixin Yang and Gang Chen, who scored 378 points
• This is the first time Bridge has been included at the Asiad
  
• Earlier, India had won two bronze medals in the men’s and mixed team events of Bridge.
  

Two of the oldest members of the Indian contingent at the ongoing Asiad, 60-year-old Pranab Bardhan and 56-year-old Shibhnath Sarkar, put their names on the medal tally for India on Saturday. The Indian duo won gold in bridge in the men's pair event at Jakarta.

Bardhan and Sarkar finished at the top after scoring 384 points in the finals.

The Chinese pair of Lixin Yang and Gang Chen won the silver with a score of 378, while the Indonesian pair of Henky Lasut and Freddy Eddy Manoppo bagged the bronze after scoring 374.

"I could not sleep last night and ate only fruit for 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.

Bridge is more challenging than chess. It’s the most competitive indoor game.

Pranab Bardhan, Bridge gold medalist.

In the Women’s Pair event, the Indian duo of Hema Deora and Marianne Karmarkar finished seventh with a total score of 349.00.

Two Indian teams were also competing in the Mixed Pair event, but neither bagged medals.

Kiran Nadar and Bachiraju Satyanarayana finished fifth with a total score of 333, while Rajeev Khandelwal and Himani Khandelwal finished seventh out of the 12 participating pairs.

This is the first time that bridge has been included at the Asian Games, and India was represented by a 24-member contingent. The gold medal on Saturday adds to the two bronze medals, which India had already bagged in the men’s and mixed team events.

(For The Quint’s complete coverage of 2018 Asian Games, click here.)