Mangalorean Archie Sequeira Qualifies for World Bridge Championship
Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai (RD/CN)
Mumbai, Aug 5: Veteran bridge player Archie Sequeira, a Mangalorean settled in Mumbai, has qualified to represent India Seniors as a member of India Blues team lead by Ashok Ruia at the Bermuda Bowl World Bridge championships to be held in Holland in October 2011.
The India Blues Team won the selection trials held in Mumbai in May 2011 and earned the right to represent the country. The team comprises Ashok Ruia-Archie Sequeira, Subash Gupta-Kamal Roy and V M Lala-R A Agrawal. It is highly rated and is expected to do well at Holland.
Archelius Sequeira, popularly known as ‘Archie’ to his pals in professional circles, started playing competitive bridge in the early 1970s when the famed late Orlando Campos was among the top players and a luminous star in India’s bridge firmament. Quickly learning from seniors and with keen application, he came up trumps by the late 70s and started winning in local tournaments.
Archie blossomed into an accomplished player by 1980 and made his mark on the national scene in 1984 by winning the Bridge Nationals and the Ruia Gold Cup - the Blue Riband of Indian Bridge, as a member of Tolani Shipping Team, partnering with another acclaimed player Finton Lewis.
Archie is the winner of Ubhayakar National Pairs with Desmond Fernandes, winner of Guru Dutt Trophy for inter-state bridge representing Maharashtra partnering R Sridhara, winner of Tolani Master Pairs with Desmond Fernandes, runner-up in Ruia Gold Cup partnering Anil Padhye, and winner of Johnson & Johnson Inter-Pharma Bridge Tournament.
His march continued with winning the National Holkar Pairs with Raju Arondekar in 2002 and again in 2008 with Finton Lewis.
Archie also played on the Indian teams at Miami in 1986, Geneva in 1991, and Albuquerque in 1995.
The crowning glory came in 2006 when his team won the Commonwealth Bridge Championship at Melbourne, Australia, beating strong contingents from England in the semi-finals and a professional team from Australia in the finals, convincingly.
In the same year, Archie reached the finals of the World Pairs at Verona, Italy, partnering R A Agarwal, competing cheek by jowl with top ranking players in the world and finishing creditably in the middle of the group.
Archie was born in Kulshekar, Mangalore, and studied at Padua High School where his father had a long teaching career, and graduated in commerce from St Aloysius College, securing second rank in the University. He migrated to Mumbai in 1960 and secured an LLB degree from Mumbai University with distinction. He cleared the IAS examination but declined the offer of allied services since he was keen only on IAS/IFS.
He completed LLM also from Mumbai University with distinction and worked with Johnson & Johnson before retiring as corporate manager-HSE in 2000.
Archie is married to Dr Thelma Pinto from a coffee planter’s family in 1971. They have three children - Smita is a doctor in homeopathy and is married to John Fernandez and settled in Bangalore. Sachin is a commander in the Indian Navy, presently based in New Delhi and is married to Sandra Rodrigues. Suhas has done BE in computer science and MBA from NIRMA-Ahmedabad and is employed with the Bank of America.
Archie belongs to St Annes parish, Pali Hill, Bandra and is a long standing member of Bandra Gymkhana.