Will Bridge soon be officially recognised as a sport?

The question "might bridge soon be officially recognized as a sport?" has been a hot topic recently at the Holiday Inn in Stratford-upon-Avon, which is seldom listed as a great sporting arena.

Though recently, a court ruling granted the English Bridge Union (EBU) the right to a judicial review to settle the question, Sport England, which controls access to a lucrative stream of lottery funding, considers it no more a sport than reading, or knitting as it lacks any physical skill, the Independent reported.

However, bridge enthusiasts believe they have their best chance in a generation of persuading Sport England to change their minds because of Justice Mostyn's recent intervention.

Gordon Rainsford, director of the tournament that has attracted 250 top ranking players from around the world, said that nobody's trying to pretend that bridge is like running around a track, but it is competitive and so is a mind sport.

Unfortunately, for the uninitiated it isn't a spectator sport. Although each table of four, arranged in rows in the Holiday Inn's meeting rooms yesterday, became fraught islands of high drama, an onlooker would struggle to say what was going on.

Philanthropist Dame Janet Wolfson de Botton noted that the thing bridge has against it is that it's totally un-televisable, adding that one has to learn for a year before he knows what's going on. It is, she said, a sport that sharpens the mind, requiring an "abstract way of thinking" and of predicting how a hand will develop that is, at times, even "beautiful."

The game does have its youthful adherents. One of them, 19-year-old Laura Covill, who plays for England under-25s, said that they're in a definite minority, and the main reason there are not many younger people in bridge is because it's so expensive to play.

Sport England recognition, bridge advocates say, could help her generation, and secure the game's future. It's a view that Zia Mahmood, one of the game's most recognisable players, shares.

Rainsford is clear that Bridge, when played in a tournament, is a serious, competitive, gruelling activity and those are the things distinguish sport.