Hinganghat’s Mohota father-son duo only hope for Vidarbha in Bridge nationals

Nagpur: Hinganghat industrialists, with their Kolkata partners, remained the lone hope for Vidarbha in the All India Open National Ranking Point Bridge Tournament underway at the Institution of Engineers hall on Friday.The four-day national bridge tournament, carrying prize money as high as Rs 10,35,000, was organised by the Vidarbha Bridge Association (VBA) under the aegis of the Bridge Federation of India.
In the Team of Four event, fighting to lift the Manohar Tarkunde Cup, the Nagpur challenge came to an early end after a dramatic league-round clash on the second day of the tournament. While the tournament favourites, Nagpur Vi, edged out Spartans by a wafer-thin margin of 0.9 point (83.19-82.29) to enter the pre-quarterfinals with the Vidarbha outfit, both the Nagpur teams failed to deliver in the knockout stage and crashed out of the team event.In the pre-quarterfinals, the Vidarbha outfit of VJ Puranik, RP Deshpande, MM Luley, MN Dutta and RV Saboo suffered a 46-83.5 defeat to Kanha. Nagpur Vi were humbled by Tornatae 56-120 after the home team had a poor third session.While the home teams' challenge ended in the round of 16, the father-son duo of Mohota from Hinganghat and the Rewatkars from Nagpur delivered when it mattered most in their respective Team of Four and Match Point Pairs events.Representing Team Mohota, the father-son duo of Basant Kumar Mohota and Anurag, along with their Kolkata partners Biswajit Poddar and Shambhu Nath Ghosh, registered a close seven-point (80-73) victory over Delhi Blues to secure their place in the quarterfinals of the team event.After the eight-round league stage of the team event, the Match Point Pairs tournament for the Vijay Josan Cup began at the adjacent hall on Friday afternoon.Nagpur's father-son duo of Raja and Amit Rewatkar finished on top of the table at the end of the first elimination round of the Pairs tournament. A total of 54 pairs participated, while the losing quarterfinalists' teams will join the second elimination round of the Pairs tournament on Saturday.In the four sessions of the Pairs tournament, the Rewatkar duo garnered a total of 732.20 points to take the numero uno position. Sanjib Bhattacharjee and Sanjib Ganguly followed the Rewatkars, collecting 712.10 points.RESULTS (All PQF)Kanha bt Vidrbha 83.5-46; Tornatae bt Nagpur Vi 120-56; Mohta bt Delhi Blues 80-73; Eisk bt Deepadhaar 83-63; Team Burzen bt Sarlafibers 95-47; Dhampur Sugar Mills bt Bangur Cement 86-78.5; SD Associates bt EA Bridge 59-38; Vedic bt Rampage 72-65.5.