66th Ashok Ruia Memorial National Bridge Championships Amla Ruia inaugurates event in Pune

 

66th Ashok Ruia Memorial National Bridge Championships

Amla Ruia inaugurates event in Pune

Sharma, Batra shine on Day one

 

Mumbai, December 9: The dynamic Delhi duo of Asha Sharma and Puja Batra emerged as early leaders, securing the top spot on the opening day of the Amla Ruia Women Pairs competition in the 66th Ashok Ruia Memorial National Bridge Championships. The event is being held at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Sports Complex, Balewadi, Pune.

 

Sharma and Batra, who recently clinched the women’s pairs title at the Prime Securities Bridge Championship in Mumbai, continued their stellar performance. They topped the qualifying league with an impressive total of 107.29 International Match Points (IMPs) late Sunday evening.

 

The experienced mixed pairing of Vasanti Shah (Mumbai) and Gopika Tandan (Delhi) secured second place with 95.83 IMPs, followed closely by Alka M. Kshirsagar (Pune) and Bharati Dey (Kolkata), who finished third with 90.63 IMPs.

 

Earlier in the day, Amla Ruia inaugurated the event amidst the presence of dignitaries and participants. Alongside her partner Meenal Thakur, she also competed in the qualifiers and successfully advanced to the final league stage.

 

A total of 40 women pairs participated in five rounds of 10 boards each, with the top 18 pairs advancing to the all-play-all round-robin finals. The event has attracted top women bridge players from across the country, vying for the prestigious crown.

 

The Women Pairs competition will be followed by events for Mixed Pairs, Senior Teams, Gold and Silver Open Teams, and Match Points Pairs.

Results – Qualifying League (Top 10):

Asha Sharma/Puja Batra - 107.29 IMPs, Vasanti Shah/Gopika Tandan - 95.83 IMPs, Alka M. Kshirsagar/Bharati Dey - 90.63 IMPs, Ekta Chadha/Bina Malhotra - 80.21 IMPs, Sheetal Bansal/Sarika Mittal - 80.00 IMPs, Aditi Jhaveri/Marianne Karmarkar - 51.04 IMPs, Kalpana Gurjar/Vidhya Patel - 49.00 IMPs, Hema Date/Sushma Karandikar - 47.92 IMPs, Monica Jajoo/Jesal Dabriwala - 39.58 IMPs, Madhu Malti Jain/Nikita Kamal - 38.54 IMPs

 

Photo caption: Amla Ruia, wife of the late Ashok Ruia, a doyen of Indian bridge, is seen lighting the traditional lamp during the inauguration ceremony, in the presence of dignitaries and participating women players.