Noida, Dec 15 (Agency) Champions India represented by Sumit Mukherjee, Jaggy Shivdasani, Keyzad Ankelsaria Sundeep Thakral, Rjeswar Tewari and Debabrata Majumder retained the title, defeating United Arab Emirates(UAE) convincingly in the final of the Asia & Middle East Bridge Championship here Tuesday night, coach cum non playing captain of Indian team Debasish Ray informed. In the title clash India scored 99 International Match Points (IMPs) while UAE could earn only 42 IMPs.
Both the finalists , however, qualified to take part in the forthcoming World Bridge Championship to be held in Italy during March 27 to April 10 next. In the world Cup India would be represented by the same team that took part in this championship. Earlier in the semi finals India drubbed Jordan in an one sided affair while UAE outplayed Pakistan in the knock-out stage of the six-nation tournament which began in triple round robin league basis. Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia could not reach the knock-out stage and finished fifth and sixth spot respectively. India finished at the top of the league table and were followed by UAE, Pakistan, Jordan, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia.