Chennai hotels vie to host World Bridge Championship teams

While a star hotel in Chennai signed up to host players and officials of the HCL World Bridge Team Championships 2015, offering attractive room rates, other hotels have approached the Bridge Federation of India (BFI) for a piece of the pie, said an official.

"Many star hotels in Chennai are interested in offering attractive rates to host the bridge players and officials coming from different countries," BFI president N.R. Kirubakaramoorthy told IANS.

With the 522-room star hotel ITC Grand Chola signing up to host the HCL World Bridge Team Championships 2015, other hotels have approached the BFI to attract players, he said.

The event spread over around 15 days is expected to attract about 1,000 players and 250 officials, making the hotels vie against each other to have a share of the pie.

For the first time, India will be hosting the World Bridge Team Championships.

The world event will be held here between Sep 26, 2015 and Oct 10, 2015.

The event host hotel ITC Grand Chola has already announced attractive rates for players and officials starting from Rs.7,000 per night (executive club) and going up to Rs.18,000 for suites.

The rates include buffet breakfast and high speed internet access for three devices and are valid for bookings made for stays between Sep 23, 2015 and Oct 11, 2015.

According to Kirubakaramoorthy, negotiations are on with Park Hyatt, The Residency Towers and other star hotels.

"Some have offered daily drop and pick up service to the game venue," he said.

While the majority of the players and officials are expected to stay at ITC Grand Chola, where the championship will be held, around 400 participants may stay at other hotels.

"There are around 4,000 star hotel rooms in the city. Capacity is not a constraint now. We are also interested in hosting players and other officials coming for the world bridge event," Prakash Jayadevan, general manager, Courtyard By Marriott, told IANS.

Star hotels will also earn handsome revenue from food and beverages, said Jayadevan.

Kirubakaramoorthy said the event budget is around Rs.15 crore and will be met entirely by the BFI.

"The title sponsor is HCL and we are looking out for associate and co-sponsors. Many corporates have expressed their interest to join the sponsors list," he said.

"We have also approached the Tamil Nadu government. However, we are greatly missing former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa. She used to support sporting events in a major way," Kirubakaramoorthy said.

The Tamil Nadu government under the chief ministership of Jayalalithaa sponsored the World Chess Championship here in 2013.

Asked about the prize money, he said there is only the trophy and no prize money.

According to him, other than corporate sponsorships there are no other revenue streams for the event.

Even the internet rights have not been auctioned, he said.

Officials and players told IANS that bridge as a game is popular in certain pockets in India.

The popularity of the players does not go beyond the bridge playing fraternity.

"Anand Mehta is a former bridge champion. But his son-in-law is a household name-Sachin Tendulkar. Similarly late cricketer Tiger Pataudi was a good bridge player," Debasish Ray, joint secretary of BFI, told IANS.