Here's wishing you and your families a wonderful Ugadi, Yugadi, Gudi Padwa, Cheti Chand, Thapna, Sajibunongma Pa
Today was a rough day at the office. Not only were the high averages needed to stay in the hunt for the Open and Mixed teams not forthcoming, the Seniors team also dropped out of the top 8. The Open team could not rise above the 14th place and the mixed team dropped to 18th place.
Tomorrow is the toughest day for everyone. After 16 rounds and 5 days, they will play FOUR ROUNDS. It will be a real test of stamina and endurance.
We wish all the teams the very best of luck for day 6.
We have shared a few photographs from the playing arena (courtesy the Indian contingent)
India Open team started off well against Argentina winning the match 14.6-5.4, but is that enough against a team that averages around 4.4, only time will tell. We picked up 45 IMPs, but also gave away 27.
One of the deals appear to be strange, we wonder whether it was a case of Striped Tail Ape double. Deal 9 OPEN India vs Argentina A 5C contract, where 12 tricks were cold, was doubled by India and not redoubled. If redoubled and we had run to 5D or 5H, we could well have given either 1100 or 2100 depending on which suit we choose, JT98xxxx or AKQxxx. Anyway, opponents duly made with an overtrick. In the other room, we could not reach the slam, so ended up losing 8 IMPs. Before this, we lost 10 IMPs in a deal where we must have got pushed to 5C. Up to 11 tricks make in the NT strain which opponents found. Deal 8 OPEN India vs Argentina.
We also gave another 6 IMPs in a strange way. 1C was opened by Argentinian South holding 21 HCP, 4315 shape. North had 4 HCP, Kxxxx in hearts, chose to pass. They played there. Well how could we lose on the board you ask? We may have upgraded the hand and opened 2C (most likely) or opened 1C and North kept it open with 1H response. Either way, we reached 6H and went 1 down. Staying in a game would have fetched us 7 IMPs instead. Deal 11 OPEN India vs Argentina.
The Italian Open team has two champion pairs Lauria-Versace, Duboin-Madala but the third pair is very weak. They are the only team to lose to Guadelope by more than 30 IMPs in the last round of yesterday when they fielded their weak pair. Smarting from that loss, in the first match today, they went all guns blazing against Norway. They also had a point to prove. Norway had Boye Brogeland, who was instrumental in exposing the cheating "World Champion" pair of Fantoni-Nunes. Italians won the match 64-33. India ran into Italy after this encounter and they fielded their best pairing against us too. Declarer play decisions by Indian North in deal 1 and deal 3 gave away 10 IMPs each. Contract was identical in both rooms. Deal 1 OPEN India vs Italy. For Deal 1, our declarer got a tougher lead. Deal 3 OPEN India vs Italy Deal 3 appears to be a play error. All overtricks went the way of Italians, and there were six deals in which we were outplayed. There were also a few other exchanges that went their way. We lost 60-13 +1.13.
In the last round of the day, Indian Open team beat New Zealand 18.44-1.56 to keep hopes alive. New Zealand are ranked just higher than us at the end of the day despite this loss, but ahead of us by 8.22 VPs. Overall, they averaged 11.7 IMPs in these three matches, well below their asking rate of 14+.
Indian women lost all their matches by 30+ imps to continue at the last spot.
India Seniors were holding the flag aloft yesterday. Today was rough going. They lost all their matches, that too against teams who were placed well below them. Seniors have slipped to the ninth spot. First match was against Germany and we lost 18-47 +3.42. The second match was against Italy. We lost by 10 IMPs. +7.2. Final match was against Netherlands and we could not finish strong, lost the match by 16 IMPs +5.82. Seniors will need to win big against Morocco and Argentina and hold their nerves against France and Denmark all their matches tomorrow.
Indian MIXED team had a bad day. In the opening match, they managed to beat our Zone rivals Jordan by 3 IMPs, not enough. We then lost the next two matches to Israel and France by 15 and 12 IMPs to get 6.01 and 6.89 respectively. Any realistic chance of qualification may be only theoretical at this stage.