24 Teams to battle it out in Commonwealth Nations Bridge

Ghaziabad: Indians will have a tough task in hands when 24 teams vie for the top honour in third edition of Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championship, commencing here from Sunday. Indian team boasts of the experienced players like Ashok Goel, Suhas Vaidya and Pritish Kushari, who have represented the country in the World Championships. Two Indian youngsters Sumit Mukherjee and Debabrata Majumdar are also fresh from Open World Series tournament and they too have many major national bridge victories under their belts. India Two team also have vastly experienced players. Alok Sadhu, S Sarkar, Badal Das and P Bardhan have been in the forefront of the national level and playing together as members of a team at C V Rao at Indian Bridge circuit, a release said. The Chairman`s team is led by Paul Hackett and Gunnar Hallberg is his partner. They have won the World Seniors` Cup recently at Philadelphia. They also have Brian Senior and Sandra Penfold as the other pair. England, Wales and Australia are other strong contenders for the title. Pakistan team will not be able to participate in the event as they have failed to get No Objection Certificates from their Sports Board and Indian Foreign Ministry. PTI