India was assured of two more medals at the 18th Asian Games after the men’s team and the mixed team reached the semi-finals of the Contact Bridge event in Jakarta on Saturday.
The men’s team finished fourth in the qualification round, while the mixed team came second to seal the semi-final berth. The rule states that the top finished team will play the fourth-placed side, while the second and third teams will face-off.
Given both the losing semi-finalists are awarded a bronze medal, India has already assured themselves at least two of those. While the mixed team slipped a place down in the second period of the event after leading the pack for the seven qualification rounds, the men’s team held on to the fourth place throughout the 13 qualifier rounds.
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Contract Bridge, which is making its debut for the first time in the Asiad involves which requires four players – two each from a team – In the game there is a 52-card deck and each player is given 13 cards each, which they use to gain maximum points using various tricks.
A contingent of 25 players has represented India in the sport, of which the six-member men’s team comprise of Jaggy Shivdasani, Rajeshwar Tewari, Ajay Khare, Raju Tolani, Debabrata Majumdar and Sumit Mukherjee.
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Meanwhile, the women’s team comprised of Kiran Nadar, Hema Deora, Himani Khandelwal, Baichiraju Satyanarayana, Gopinath Manna and Rajeev Khandelwal.
But while both the men’s team and the mixed team assured themselves a bronze, the super mixed team failed to qualify for the semi-finals.