As day 4 got over, we have crossed the halfway point of the round robin stage today.
The averages of the 8th placed teams at halfway mark gives a fair idea of the asking rate needed for the remaining rounds.
Today, we will take a look at the performances of our teams till date and what exactly may be needed for them to make the cut, as it were.
As an overall picture, the Indian Seniors team gained a place in the rankings to 5th place. The Open team is still at 14th place while the mixed team dropped a rank to 16th place.
In a Round-Robin format, the importance of accumulating against weaker teams cannot but be emphasized. The Indian Open team, for example, conceded 8.8 VPs against Guadelope, whose current average is around 5. Think of it as a lost opportunity of around 4 VPs for our team against all other teams who would have done well against that team.
We made amends by making short work of UAE for maximum 20 yesterday. Despite that, the loss to China Hong Kong, who have never climbed beyond the 12th position, and are currently in the 16-19 range, will rankle. We were beaten quite comprehensively by them in Wuhan (2019) as well, so we should have been better prepared against a team capable of springing some surprises.
Why I say this is because a look at Indian Open team's draw shows a very tough ask in the last two days, all teams we play (with possible exception of Bulgaria) will fancy their chances in the qualification bid and so it is important to reach these two days with the right momentum
We wish all the teams the very best of luck for day 5.
We have shared a few photographs from the playing arena (courtesy the Indian contingent)
Two big losses suffered by the Indian Open team in the first two rounds of today did not help their cause. In the first round, they lost 3.91 - 16.09 VP (23 - 49 IMP) to a strong Norway team with Helgemo and Helness back in the home team.
You may recall that this pair had earlier lent their services to Monaco under Zimmerman. Subsequently, Helgemo was banned when he failed a drug test. There was also another ban when a team comprising Helgemo reported scores from a match that did not take place. This got them another suspension.
With him and Helness back for Norway, Boye Brogeland-Christian Bakke teaming up with Terje Aa-Allan Livgrad, Norway has quite a good team and can be considered a contender for a medal. While the loss to a strong Norway team is perhaps as per ranking and expected, in the 12th round, Indian Open team lost to Egypt by an even larger margin and this loss is going to hurt.
In the last round of the day, our team shrugged off these two setbacks and beat South Africa 15 - 5 VP (48 - 28 IMP).
They now have 132.9 VPs in 13 rounds. It is expected that the qualifying mark is could be as high as 280 VPs and may also be as low as 274. This places a stiff asking rate in the next 10 rounds of an average of 14.7 VPs to be safe. The task is not going to be easy. Our team is yet to play Italy, New Zealand, Denmark, Israel, Netherlands, Australia and England who are all ahead of them in rankings at the moment. We are yet to play Singapore and Argentina from the bottom of the heap, so we still have time to mend the batting average. Any team that is capable of doing this task is the current team, the three top pairings of India who have come thru a strong selection process. They all have the necessary experience to see them thru as well.
The Ladies team had another disastrous day with results that are really not worth reporting. They are currently occupying the bottom position in the round robin.
The Indian Seniors held the flag aloft amongst all these happenings. In the first match, they played England, who were placed two spots ahead of them. Anil Padhya-Rajesh Dalal took the crease along with Sukamal Das-Subroto Saha against David Mossop-Gunnar Hallberg and John Holland-John Hassett.
The very first board saw a 20-20 HCP battle. Anil-Rajesh seemed to have talked their opponents against doubling their 4S while Subroto-Sukamal bid and made 4H at the other table. Rajesh went 2 down undoubled, while 4H by Subroto on 20 HCP had no defense. 8 IMPs to India. Deal 1 SENIOR India vs England.
How often do you hold a suit like this AKQJ97642? Well Anil did, he seemed to have talked opponents into doubling his 4 Spades contract which was played undoubled at the other table. No defense. It would have been interesting to know the bidding sequence where he got them to double his contract. +5 IMPs. Deal 2 SENIOR India vs England
India gained 3 and lost 4 in the next few boards.
Deal 7 SENIOR India vs England In the Indian Open team's match against Norway, we lost on this board when our pair tried for slam, stopped in 5S which went down. The key to the decision is figuring out that you have KQ opposite a singleton and thus wasted values. In the closed room of the seniors match, the two Johns did exactly that and got the same result. Anil-Rajesh judged a hand very well to stop at game and not explore slam. +12 IMPs
Deal 8 SENIOR India vs England In the very next deal, you are on lead with 82 QT54 AQ842 3 against a 6 Clubs contract. The auction might have gone with your RHO opening 1C-1H-2S(jump shift) finally reaching 6C with no bidding by your side. The lead needed to beat the contract was not found and India made the slam. England decided to go quietly in 3NT. + 10 IMPs.
Deal 9 SENIOR India vs England Subroto-Sukamal did well to reach 4S after North opened 1H. There was no defense. At the other table, England were in a partial at 3S. + 10 IMPs.
Deal 12 SENIOR India vs England Holding QJT9xxxx in spades and another Qxx in hearts, you hear your partner opening 1C. You respond 1S and possibly 1NT by LHO and 2C rebid by partner. Will you rebid 4S? India did in the closed room, England took the low road in 2S. No defense for game. +10.
At this stage, India were ahead 44-4.
The next board saw England gain 13 when their defender found the lead to beat 4S which was bid at both tables. India gained 11 more to register a commanding 66-17 (19.07-0.93) win.
The next round saw Indian Seniors lose to bottom ranked Guadelope by 2 IMPs (what is with Indian teams and that island nation???!!!) We contributed so much to their economy that out of the 26 VPs they have so far, this match gave them 10.61.
The final round saw Seniors play against Iceland, only 21 IMPs were exchanged. India got the better share, 14-7 to win 12.03.7.97. Seniors finished the day in 5th place.
Indian MIXED team also started with a bad round. Rajiv-Himani, Kiran-Satya were nearly blitzed by a strong USA1 team Eldad Ginossar (formerly Israel), Dana Berkowitz, Chris Willenken, Migry-Zur Campanile (with Debbie Rosenberg, Andrew Rosenthal sitting out).
They looked on their way to a 0-20 loss trailing 4-66 at one stage. Then a 4S played from North went down when USA1 declared, but the same contract was declared by South and West needed to find a lead from 4 AQJ2 KQ6 K9843. All leads would sell a trick and Kiran made the contract. Two good decisions in the same deal. First Satya did not open a weak 2S with 6-4 in Majors, both Vul and only 6 HCP. Many did. Secondly Kiran opened 1NT with 3226. Deal 13 MIXED INDIA vs USA1 13 IMPs to India.
In the very last deal, Satya seems to have brought home a 3NT on just 19 HCP (attention coach!! how did they get there ). Deal 16 MIXED India vs USA1
India escaped losing 1.91-18.09 (27-67 IMP).
In the next round, they lost narrowly to Australia 8.24-11.76 (27-33 IMP). However, in the last round, they recovered their mojo and pulled off a strong 13.04-6.96 (24-13 IMP) win against Poland.
The Mixed team are placed 16th at 122 VPs and would also need a stiff asking rate. They need to play JORDAN, TUNISIA, ARGENTINA, PORTUGAL and SINGAPORE who are all ranked below them and ISRAEL, FRANCE, BELGIUM, ROMANIA, USA 2 who are ranged above them. The qualifying mark is likely to be around 270 on the lower side and around 277 on the higher side. An asking rate of 15.5 to be on the safer side, a tall one certainly, but quite possible for the highly experienced team we have.
I feel frustrated at our main team,s performance so far. We sent our best bridge talents and hoped they would cross swords with the top teams of the world. Europeans always make a taunting comment against us on different world bridge sites and they may again prove that. If we cannot qualify this time we have no future. We are lions in our own country but rabbits in the international arena.