PANAJI
China and hosts India produced strong performances as the league stage of the 5th Asia Cup Bridge Championship concluded at Taj Cidade de Goa on Thursday, with several of their teams securing semi-final berths.
India's 'B' team in the seniors category topped the Swiss League standings with 188.78 victory points (VPs) to qualify for the last four. The team comprises Hemant K Jalan, Sukamal Das, Rajesh Dalal, Jitendra Solani, Anil Padhye and Raju Tolani.
India's Men's 'A' team also advanced to the semi-finals after finishing third with 186.47 VPs. The side includes Subhas Gupta, Sandeep Thakral, Sumit Mukherjee, Rajeshwar Tiwari, Sagnik Roy and Kaustabh Nandi.
In the men's section, China lived up to expectations by topping the league table with 218.31 VPs. Hong Kong China 'A' finished second with 196.72 VPs, while Bangladesh 'B' claimed the fourth semi-final spot with 174.24 VPs. India's Men's 'B' team narrowly missed qualification after ending with 170.45 VPs.
In the seniors category, Australia (166.99 VPs), Japan (146.94 VPs) and Chinese Taipei (146.60 VPs) joined India 'B' in the semi-finals. India 'A' finished sixth with 139.75 VPs.
China dominated the mixed event, with both its 'A' and 'B' teams progressing to the knockout stage after finishing first and second with 169.23 and 163.92 VPs, respectively. Hong Kong China (155.43 VPs) and Australia (141.14 VPs) completed the semi-final line-up.
India 'B' narrowly missed out on qualification in the mixed category, finishing fifth with 135.90 VPs, while India 'A' ended 11th with 113.77 VPs.
The semi-finals across all categories will be played on Friday.
