Bangladesh faced the toughest day in the 44th Bermuda Bowl, also known as Bridge World Cup, as they were hammered by two of the most successful teams in history - USA and Italy - but held their nerve to win against Indonesia Tuesday in Wuhan, China.
Bangladesh were on a roll beating strong teams like Norway and India in the first two days among four wins but faced the music against multiple-time champion Italy in their first match of the day.
The men in red and green started with two IMPs in the first board but AHM Kamruzzaman and Moshiur Rahman bid just three hearts in the second board at close room against successful 4H contract by the opponents in the corresponding board, before Shah Zia ul Haque and Asifur Rahman Chowdhury went two down in a slam contract conceding 10 and 13 IMPS respectively.
Italy got another game swing of 12 in the 13th board and in the end finished the 16-board game on 54-5 IMPS (19.07-0.93 VPS).
Bangladesh recovered from the defeat and snatched a win in their second game where they beat Indonesia by 34-23 IMPS (13.04-6.96).
Indonesian players’ ambitious bidding in the close room proved costly for them as Kamruzzaman and Moshiur defended well to grab points in the fifth and 15th board.
#World #Cup #Bridge: #Bangladesh beat #India, continue brilliant run https://t.co/uSW5fPjoXv
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) September 16, 2019
Credit must be given to Zia and his partner Monirul Islam, who played in the open room, as they held their nerve for securing another victory.
But in their last match of the day, Bangladesh faced mighty USA 1 team.
Zia successfully made a grand slam in diamonds in the fourth board against legendary Eric Rodwell and Jeff Meckstroth to earn 16 IMPS but Bangladesh failed to earn any more IMP from the remaining boards.
The mighty USA side compiled pressure on Zia and Asifur in the open room as well as on Moshiur and his partner Rashedul Ahsan in the close room to finish with a big win by 63-16 IMPs (18.87-1.13).
After a hectic day Bangladesh are on 18th position in the 24-team tournament with 75.81 points.
It’s worth mentioning that in bridge, unlike many other sports, win in a match does not award any point but the total VPs accumulated in the matches are gauge of deciding the team’s position in the points table.