Kolkata/IBNS: Top bridge players of the country, including winners of  the gold medals and a silver at the recently concluded  Bridge Federation of Asia and Far East  championship in Dubai, and the corporate bosses will stake their claim for various titles at the  8th All India Shree Cement  Bridge Championship being organised by Corporate Bridge  Association of India in Kolkata from May 1 to 14.

Briefing journalists at the Calcutta Sports Journalists` Club, Bridge Federation of India secretary Debasish Ray informed on Monday that the championship which is a category one event in the bridge calendar of the country, would offer a total prize money of Rs 8 lakh.

About eighty teams representing  nearly 500 players  will feature in this meet to be held at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre. 

The India internationals who would be seen in action here include Sumit Mukherjee, Rajeswar Tiwari, Sagnik Roy, Kaustabh Nandi , K M Bendre, Sayantan Kushari , B Satyanarayan, Jaggi Shibdasani , Subhas Gupta, Ravi Goenka, Rana Roy , Rajiv Goenka, Debasis Ray  and others.

Notable among the women participants are Asha Sharma, Bindiya Kohli, Puja Batra, Bharati Dey, Alka Khirsagar, Himani Khandelwal and others.

The corporate honchos who would be playing at this prestigious meet include Chairman of Shree  Cement H M Bangur, Chairman & Managing Director of Balarampur Chini  Mills Vivek Saraogi Chairman of  Indian Chains N K Chitlangia and others.

The championship  would be held for team and pair events. Beside last year's winners Formidables, noted teams which would feature at this popular meet would include  Maverick, Dhampur Sugar, Team Arun Jain, Bangur Cement, C A Bridge, Team Monica Jajoo and Indian Chain. 

Two players from Israel and another from Norway  would also take part in this  event and play for  team E A Bridge. 

(Reporting by Manik Banerjee)