21st HCL International Bridge Championship Wraps Up on a High Note

• Over 1000 players, 180 teams from 12 countries participated in the International Bridge Championship

• Team WHAM from Australia & New Zealand emerged as the winner of the Team of Four Gold

• Team RSCS from India won the Team of Four Silver

• S Sunderram & P Sridharan and TV Ramani & Bhavnani won the Open Pairs and IMP Pairs

HCL Group, a US $13.4 billion global conglomerate, today announced the successful completion of the 21st HCL International Bridge Championship. The nine-day tournament held at The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel in New Delhi saw participation from over 1000 players and 180 teams. The players competed for Rs. 2.7 crore (USD 325,000) prize purse. The tournament continues to hold its place as one of the most prestigious bridge championships in the world, boasting the largest prize pool in India and the world. This tournament has also been included in World Bridge Tour, as a ‘Category B’ event. This is the highest-rated category after world championship events organised by the World Bridge Federation.

Mr. Sandeep Thakral, Mrs Kiran Nadar, Mr Shikhar Malhotra and Mr Laurie Kelso, Chief Tournament Director during the prize distribution ceremony of 21st HCL International Bridge Championship

The tournament which was held from 14^th September to 22^nd September saw participation from India and several other countries including the USA, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Russia, Israel, UAE, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India. The championship comprised of ‘Team of Four Gold’, ‘Team of Four Silver’, ‘Open Match Point Pairs’, ‘IMP Pairs’ and ‘Mixed IMP Pairs‘. The winner details are as follows:

• The Naresh Tandan Trophy for the winners of Team of Four Gold event and Rs. 44 Lakh prize money – won by Team WHAM from Australia & New Zealand

• The Mohini Tandan Trophy for the winners of Team of Four Silver and Rs. 16 Lakh prize money – won by Team RSCS from India

• The Neena Bonarji Trophy for the “Open Pairs- Gold” event and Rs. 12.8 Lakh prize money – won by Team S Sunderram and P Sridharan

• Winners of the ‘Open Pairs- Silver’ event are Vinod Kumar Shaw and Sanjit Dey won a prize money of Rs. 2 lakhs.

• Winners of the IMP Pairs are TV Ramani and Subhash Ramani won a prize money of Rs. 2 lakhs.

• Winners of the new category added Mixed Pairs i.e. Gopika Tandon & Arun Jain won a prize money of Rs. 2.5 lakhs.

Speaking on the occasion, Padma Shri Mrs. Kiran Nadar, Chairperson of the Organising Committee of the championship and an acclaimed international Bridge player, Commonwealth Gold medallist and Asian Games Bronze medallist said, “I would like to congratulate all the players for their outstanding performance in this tournament. I am delighted to see that several young players have joined the tournament this year. The future of Bridge in India relies on nurturing talent at the right time, and international championships like this, hosted in the nation’s capital, provide young players with a valuable opportunity to test their skills against some of the world’s best. This is a significant step in their growth and the development of Bridge in our country.”

HCL International Bridge Championship is an initiative by HCL Group to provide players with a world class platform.

Note to the Editor

About HCL Group

Founded in 1976 as one of India’s original IT garage start-ups, HCL Group is a pioneer of modern computing with many firsts to its credit, including the introduction of the 8-bit microprocessor-based computer in 1978 well before its global peers. Today, the HCL Group has a presence across varied sectors that include technology, healthcare and talent management solutions and comprises three companies – HCL Infosystems, HCLTech and HCL Healthcare. The Group generates annual revenues of over US$13.4 billion with 219,000 employees operating across 60 countries.

For further information, visit www.hcl.com.