Dhampur lead strong field in last 8

Dhampur Sugar, Pharma Services, Zwederland, Oceania, Formidables, Russia, Bridge Plus and Lavazza advanced to the quarter-finals of the gold section of the 15th HCL international bridge tournament on Thursday.

While Dhampur beat Ramcharan by 143-102 IMPs, Pharma Services of Denmark got the better of Eden Realty 148-107, Zwederland (Holland and Sweden combine) routed Hemant Jalan 111-58, Oceania (Australia, New Zealand) beat Drink 155-58, Formidables (captained by Kiran Nadar) shaded Iceland in a thriller 129-114 on a tie-breaker of four boards, Russia saw off Sweden 109-97 and Bridge Plus beat Shri Radhey

In the quarter-final matches across 14 boards under way, Lavazza were leading Dhampur Sugar by 52-31, Bridge Plus led Pharma Services 68-62, Zwerland were ahead of Russia by 65-18 and Oceania were sitting pretty against Formidables at 98-43 by the halfway stage.

In the pre-quarter-finals of the silver event, Manzova Casual beat Atanu 147-32 IMPs; Borivali Sports Club beat Bankura Club 151-117; Senior Citizens saw off Gupta’s Bangalore 159-109; Team Vibrant beat Pradeep 180-80; Dr. Sanghi beat Filmnagar Cul. Centre, Hyderabad 158-57; A.K. Bose beat Xirode 151-50; Rajputana beat Kamlesh Gupta 159-84 and Six-Pack beat Indian Chain 122-111.

The open MP Pair event that saw 252 entries, the leaders after end of elimination-1 round were S. Mukherjee and Sukamal Das with a score of 63.4%. 110 pairs qualified to the 2nd elimination round.

A hundred and thirty-eight pairs played in the MP pair elimination-2 and 56 pairs will qualify for the elimination-3 round.When last reports came in, Kamil Novak and Wojciech Strzemecki from Poland were leading with a score of 66.5% ahead of Israel Yadlin and Doron Yadlin from Israel (65.5%) and Badal Das and Alok Sadhu (65.2%). Dhampur beat Ramcharan by 143102 IMPs, Pharma Services of Denmark beat Eden Realty 148107, Zwederland (Holland and Sweden combine) routed Hemant Jalan 111-58