India won gold medal in the Bridge competition at the Asian Games with Pranab Bardhan and Shibhnath Sarkar clinching the top honours in the Men’s Pair event. 60-year-old Pranab and 56-year-old Shibhnath finished at the top after scoring 384 points in the finals.
The Chinese pair of Lixin Yang and Gang Chen won the silver with a score of 378 and the Indonesian combination of Henky Lasut and Freddy Eddy Manoppo bagged the bronze scoring 374 here.
Pranab and Shibnath are two of the oldest members of the Indian contingent. “I could not sleep last night and ate only fruit for breakfast. It’s tough, the blood circulation shoots up with tension, we beat China and Singapore, it’s great result for us,” said Shibnath Sarkar, an academician at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University.
This is the first time that bridge has been included at the Asian Games, and there were 24-member in the team. This gold medal adds to the two bronze medals, which India had already bagged in the Men’s and Mixed Team events.
