JAKARTA, Sept 1: Pranab Bardhan became the oldest man in Indian contingent to win a medal at the 18th Asian Games as he joined forces with Shibhnath Sarkar to clinch gold in men�s pair event of the bridge competition on Saturday.
The 60-year-old Bardhan and his 56-year old partner finished the men�s pair event with a score of 384 as they edged out China�s Lixin Yang and Gang Chen, who finished with 378 points after five round of competition.
Bridge made its debut at the Asian Games, this year.
Indonesia�s Henky Lasut and Freddy Eddy Manoppo finished third with 374 points to claim one of the two places on the podium along with Hong Kong�s Mak Kwok Fai and Lai Wai Kit, who had 373 points.
Another Indian pair in the fray, Sumit Mukherjee and Debabrata Majumder finished ninth with a score of 333 while Subhash Gupta and Sapan Desai ended at the 12th position.
�I could not sleep last night and ate only fruit in breakfast. It�s tough, the blood circulation shoots up with tension, we beat China and Singapore, it�s great result for us,� said an elated Sarkar, who is a teacher at Jadavpur University.
Bardhan, who had a construction business, said, �Bridge is more challenging than chess. It�s the most competitive indoor game.�
In mixed pair, India�s Bachiraju Satyanarayana and Kiran Nadar finished fifth to miss out of a medal after scoring 333 in the final.
Another Indian pair in fray, Rajeev Khandelwal and Himani Khandelwal finished at the seventh spot with a score of 329.
In women�s pair event, Hema Deora and Marianne Karmarkar ended their campaign at the seventh place with a score of 349.
India finished third overall with one gold and two bronze medals. India had won a bronze each in men�s team and the mixed team events. � PTI