“Congrats to the Indian Men’s Bridge Team for their exceptional performance and clinching the Silver Medal at the Asian Games. Raju Tolani, Ajay Prabhakar Khare, Sumit Mukherjee, Rajeshwar Tiwari, Jaggy Shivdasani and Sandeep Thakral have shown remarkable brilliance and dedication,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on October 6. But what many may not know is the role played by the Madras High Court in the selection of that medal-winning team.
It was a Division Bench of Justices D. Krishnakumar and P.B. Balaji which had, on August 7, dismissed a writ appeal filed by G. Venkatesh, an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI), seeking a direction to the Bridge Federation of India (BFI) to let him represent it in international tournaments. The judges had concurred with senior counsel Srinath Sridevan, representing BFI, that only Indian citizens could be allowed to represent the country in international tournaments.
