Bill Gates, a co-founder of Microsoft, met Anshul Bhatt, a 13-year-old bridge player who made history last year by becoming the youngest winner at the World Junior Bridge Championship in Italy.
On August 10, Mumbai native Anshul Bhatt won the under-16 World Youth Transnational Bridge Championships in Salsomaggiore, Italy. He won three gold medals in all, one of which was for best overall performance. The young prodigy had received a call from Sachin Tendulkar before the competition.
Gates shared a short reel of his meeting with Anshul, the caption of which read, “It was fun meeting Anshul and picking his brain about our favorite pastime. Anshul, if you’re ever looking for a new bridge partner, I’m your guy!”
Soon after Anshul had become the youngest champion, Gates congratulated him via Twitter, saying, “Very fun to learn more about the new youth world champion of my favorite pastime. Here’s a belated congratulation, Anshul Bhatt!”
During an interview back in 2018 with Business Standard, Anshul said, “I also love playing bridge because I meet new friends. I hope to keep learning from my mistakes and improving next year and the year after that as well.”
The card game of “contract bridge,” commonly known as “bridge,” uses a regular 52-card deck with four players competing in pairs, seated across from one another at a table. International competitive bridge is governed by the World Bridge Federation (WBF), with various additional organizations handling regional affairs.
The WBF is also recognized by the International Olympic Committee and is a ‘game of skill’ along with other card games such as poker and rummy.
Bridge was part of the most recent Asian Olympic Games 2022 in Hangzhou, China in September along with several other sports. Incidentally, the 42nd World Team Championship, a prestigious bridge tournament, was held in Chennai, India back in 2015.