PANAJI
The Indian Women 'A' team secured a place in the semifinals of the women's event at the 5th Asia Cup Bridge Championship after finishing third in the Swiss League standings at the end of the ninth round at the Taj Cidade de Goa on Wednesday.
The team of Varalakshmi Periasamy, Sumathi Iyer, Ameeta Raythatha, Vasanti Shah, Asha Sharma and Puja Batra accumulated 105.39 victory points (VPs) to advance to the knockout stage. China topped the league with 127.61 VPs, followed by Indonesia (108.23 VPs), while Japan finished fourth with 89.14 VPs to complete the semifinal line-up. India Women 'B' ended at the bottom of the standings with 69.98 VPs.
India Women 'A' sealed their semifinal berth with a dominant display against Hong Kong China 'B' in their final league match, earning 19.83 VPs while their opponents managed just 0.17 VP.
In the Seniors section, India 'B' maintained its lead after the 10th round with 126.63 VPs. Australia occupied second place with 115.15 VPs, followed by Chinese Taipei on 110.89 VPs.
The Indian men's teams also strengthened their positions in the Open event. India 'A' moved into third place with 134.95 VPs, while India 'B' was fourth with 134.81 VPs. China continued to dominate the standings with 152.06 VPs, ahead of Hong Kong China 'A' on 145.95 VPs. Bangladesh climbed to fifth place with 129.13 VPs.
In the mixed event, China continued its dominance with its 'A' and 'B' teams occupying the top two positions after 11 rounds on 143.01 and 138.83 VPs respectively. Hong Kong China was third with 126.65 VPs, while Australia 'A' was fourth on 117.98 VPs. India 'B' was placed seventh with 109.03 VPs, while India 'A' was 12th with 93.77 VPs.
In the 11th round of the Open event, India 'A' earned 13.96 VPs against Thailand's 6.04 VPs. India 'B', however, managed only 3.79 VPs against Japan, which collected 16.21 VPs.
