66th Ashok Ruia Memorial National Bridge Championships: Asha Sharma And Puja Batra Continue With Impressive Showing

The fancied Delhi pair of Asha Sharma and Puja Batra grabbed the opening day honours taking pole position in the Amla Ruia Women Pairs competition of the 66th Ashok Ruia Memorial National Bridge Championships being played at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Sports Complex, Balewadi, Pune.

Sharma and Batra, who recently won the women’s pairs title in the Prime Securities Bridge Championship in Mumbai, maintained their impressive form. With a total of 107.29 IM points they finished at the top of the qualifying league, late Sunday evening.

The mixed pairing of veteran Vasanti Shah (Mumbai) and Gopika Tandan (Delhi) finished in second place with 95.83 IM points followed by Alka M. Kshirsagar (Pune) and Bharati Dey (Kolkata) 90.63 IM points in third position.

Earlier, Amla Ruia, wife of late Ashok Ruia, a doyen of Indian bridge, inaugurated the event in the presence of dignitaries and the participating women players. Later along with partner Meenal Thakur she participating in the event and they qualified for the final league.

A total of 40 women pairs competed in 5 rounds of 10 boards each. The top 18 pairs have qualified to play an all-play-all round-robin format. Top Indian women players from across India are vying for the crown.

This event will be followed by Mixed Pairs, Senior Teams, Gold and Silver Open Teams, and Match Points Pairs contest.

Results – Qualifying League (top-10): 1. Asha Sharma/Puja Batra - 107.29 points, 2. Vasanti Shah/Gopika Tandan - 95.83, 3. Alka M. Kshirsagar/Bharati Dey - 90.63, 4. Ekta Chadha/Bina Malhotra - 80.21, 5. Sheetal Bansal/Sarika Mittal - 80.00, 6. Aditi Jhaveri/Marianne Karmarkar - 51.04, 7. Kalpana Gurjar/Vidhya Patel - 49.00, 8. Hema Date/Sushma Karandikar - 47.92, 9. Monica Jajoo/Jesal Dabriwala – 39.58, 10. Madhu Malti Jain/Nikita Kamal 38.54.