Bridge Federation nominates Pranab Bardhan and Shibnath Sarka for Arjuna awards


Bridge Federation nominates Pranab Bardhan and Shibnath Sarka for Arjuna awards

Asian Games gold medal-winning duo Pranab Bardhan has been nominated for prestigious Arjuna Awards by the Bridge Federation of India.

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Bardhan and Sarkar are gold medalists in the bridge event at the Jakarta Asian Games also been an oldest Asiad champion from India.

“By mistake, our names could not be nominated last year and this was a long wait for us. Hope we get this award this time which will give the sport an all-new filip in the country,” 62-year-old Bardhan told PTI from his Jadavpur residence here.

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The last day for sending nominations is June 3 as the duo received a form by the bridge body and asked them to submit it with full formalities.

The duo has been practising for more than 20 years bridge as they will meet regularly before the online platform “made their life easier. My whole life is devoted to this sport. People would first scoff at us for playing card games but the 2018 gold medal changes all that,” master Bardhan said.

We have about a dozen people now working in Railways and the Income Tax department through sports quota. I hope the Arjuna Award will give a fresh impetus to our sport, ” he added.

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The best achievement of the duo is a victory against China’s Lixin Yang and Gang Chen at the Asian Games who finished the table with 378 points after the fifth round of the tournament.

Bardhan and Sarkar also won a gold medal at the Asia Pacific Championship in Seoul, 2016.

“Earlier, people related bridge to that of gambling and recreational activity but it’s not. There’s so much of mental game involved here.”

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Valuing this nomination as one of the best moment of his life, Bardhan wishes to be a coach and give coaching lessons to upcoming players.

“We have a tremendous talent pool in bridge in India. We have proved that by winning one gold and two bronze at the sport’s debut in Asian Games,” Bardhan said.

He also yearned that West Bengal government will definitely allocate them land for formulating academy as they getting the Arjuna Award.

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“We have not yet got clearance for an academy the application is pending for two years. I hope the government will approve.” Sarkar too was elated by the development and echoed: “We just hope to get the recognition. We have worked hard for this moment for the last 20 years. This has not happened overnight. Hope an Arjuna recognition will give our niche sport a fresh boost as there’s a lot of talented untapped youngsters in India.”