HCL to host its 14th International Bridge Championship

Over 500 players from across the globe will be competing for Rs. 1.2 Crore prize purse The Championship comes on the heels of the Olympic Committee of Asia announcing the inclusion of Bridge in the 2018 Asian Games

HCL, a leading global conglomerate, today announced the commencement of the 14th HCL International Bridge Championship, one of the largest congregation of players in the trick-taking card sport.

The championship will witness participation from over 600 players (comprising approximately 100 teams) and will be held from October 19-23, 2016 at the J W Marriott Hotel, Aerocity New Delhi.

Twelve international teams from countries including US, Israel, Poland, UK, Russia and Jordan among others with 90 teams from India will be participating in the Championship. The total prize purse up for grabs at the five-day event is Rs. 1.2 Crore (USD 180,000), one of the highest prize money for any bridge tournament in the world.

The championship is being held under the auspices of the Bridge Federation of India and comes on the heels of the Olympic Committee of Asia announcing the inclusion of Bridge in the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia. Noted players of international repute participating at the HCL International Bridge Championship include, Giorgio Duboin from Italy (World Ranked No. 4), Zia Mehmood from USA (World Ranked No. 7) and Norberto Bocchi from Italy (World Ranked No. 9) among others.

The championship will consist of the, "Team of Four Gold", "Team of Four Silver" and "Open Pairs" events. The Naresh Tandan Trophy will be given to the winners of Team of Four Gold event. The Mohini Tandan Trophy will be given to the winners of Team of Four Silver event and the Neena Bonarji Trophy will be given to the winners of the 'Open Pairs' event.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Kiran Nadar, Director, HCL Corporation and an internationally renowned Bridge player and Captain of Team Formidables said, "The timing of the HCL International Bridge Championship could not be better as Bridge will make its debut at the Asian Games in 2018. Bridge is a cerebral sport - extremely challenging and exciting and based on skills, not luck. But a huge component of bridge is also very human, this melding is what sets Bridge apart, not only from other card games, but also from board games like Chess."

Talking about HCL's support for Bridge, Mr. Sundar Mahalingam, Chief Strategy Officer HCL Corporation said, "Bridge is a strategy game that teaches one to be of a tougher mind-set, to use one's intellect to maximum capacity, communicate powerfully and to pursue victory diligently.

It is these qualities that make Bridge a perfect fit for HCL. The organization has been strongly supporting the game in India for the last 13 years through the HCL International Bridge Championship.

This year we have increased the total prize purse to Rs. 1.2 Crore to make it more lucrative for both national and international participants. We are hopeful that in the years to come, this game will be played by individuals from across age groups in India and internationally."

Bridge is now the fourth mind sport to be included in the Asian Games after Chess made its debut at Doha 2006 and Go (an abstract strategy game for two players) and Xiangqi (also called Chinese Chess, a strategy board game for two players) were added at Guangzhou, China in 2010.