Labourers take spotlight at bridge tourney

  • | Sunday | 22nd July, 2018

It was on Gupta’s insistence that industrialist K K Modi, who was sponsoring the tournament in Goa, paid for their expenses so they could participate. Dheeraj said he took the help of a retired village math teacher to pick up the finer tricks of the game. PANAJI: Bridge is considered an elitist game so it’s quite unusual to see a trio of labourers from Uttar Pradesh impressing those attending a national tournament in Goa with their mastery over cards. Back home, they now have their own club — the Johri Bridge Club — where members play the game sitting on the floor between 8-11pm. Most nights, the three used to gamble their money away playing ‘rummy’, but bridge changed that.

PANAJI: Bridge is considered an elitist game so it’s quite unusual to see a trio of labourers from Uttar Pradesh impressing those attending a national tournament in Goa with their mastery over cards. Rajeev Kumar, Vipin Kumar and Bittu Kumar, who hail from Johri village in UP’s Baghpat district, are competing against a crowd that includes tycoons, businessmen, retired police officers, former bureaucrats and ex-IITians.Rajeev, who is leading the race at the K K Modi Goa Bridge Festival after two rounds, admitted that it felt a bit unreal to be playing with “VIPs”. “But once the game starts, we blank our mind and focus only on the cards,” says Rajeev, who has already won a national tournament in Nainital.It’s been only a little over a year that the trio were introduced to bridge by their ‘guru’ Dheeraj Kumar, a constable with Delhi Police who himself picked up the game in 2013. Most nights, the three used to gamble their money away playing ‘rummy’, but bridge changed that. Back home, they now have their own club — the Johri Bridge Club — where members play the game sitting on the floor between 8-11pm. Investing in chairs with their limited income doesn’t make sense.Industrialist paid for labourers’ expenditureHad it not been for their rustic Hindi , bridge veteran Anil Gupta wouldn’t have known the identity of his opponents at a tournament in Delhi. A curious Gupta stopped the game midway and ask them how they got there. He was floored when he found out how they learnt the game. It was on Gupta’s insistence that industrialist K K Modi, who was sponsoring the tournament in Goa, paid for their expenses so they could participate. Dheeraj said he took the help of a retired village math teacher to pick up the finer tricks of the game.

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