– Minister hopes recent victory could revitalize bridge in Guyana
By Kiev Chesney
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony said Thursday he hoped that the recent win by a Guyana Bridge team, in a triangular tournament in Surname could serve as an impetus for the sport locally.
Dr. Anthony made the disclosure on Thursday at the Georgetown Club while officially presenting the five-member team which won the 35th annual Inter-Guiana team tournament held from March 22-25 with their championship trophy.
The victory was only the third by a Guyana Bridge team in the 35-year history of the competition.
“I hope that this recent victory in this competition between the three nations will serve to revitalize the game locally so that we may be able to see a formation of a few clubs as well the organizing of local tournaments,” the Minister responsible for Sport said.
Dr. Anthony explained that the forming of associations and clubs for the sport, would give players a chance to gain experience as well as provide an arena for the country’s top bridge players to practise their craft.
He also pledged his support and suggested that more persons should become actively involved in the discipline which challenges an individual’s mental faculties.
Captain of the team, Roy Beepat, said that this year’s competition was very tough and it took a bit of adjusting before the Guyanese side could get rolling but once they did, there was no stopping them.
“The competition this year was very tough for us, especially considering that the other two countries have structures and organizations in their country and they practise regularly,” said Beepat.
He added: “We had no time to practise or anything like that, in fact, all we did was just gather five players to participate and because of this we took a bit of a beating in the earlier rounds of the competition.
“However, after a few games, our team got into full stride and we managed to win the rest of our games convincingly,” Beepat added.
The 49-year old proprietor of Giftland Office Max, also said that the initiative to revive the game locally takes effect from Tuesday when the Guyana Bridge Federation launches a weekly bridge club at the GCC pavilion every Tuesday at 6:30pm.
Beepat also disclosed that GTT Cellink Plus would be coming on board to assist with sponsorship to supplement the sponsorship of the sport by his organization.
The Guyana team got past French Guiana and Suriname 18-12 and 20-10 respectively in the final matches.
The five players of the Guyana team were Beepat, Ashraf Ali, Ramdat ‘Jackie Rampersaud, Tulsie Sharma and Andrew Kartick.
