New Delhi, Oct 21 (PTI) A strong Indian contingent, led by Vinay Desai, will compete in all four categories of the 16th World Bridge Games to be held in Buenos Aires from October 22 till November 3.

The contingent comprises several stalwarts, including 2018 Asian Games gold medallist in men's pairs Pranab Bardhan (seniors), Raju Tolani and Jaggy Shivdasani (Open category), among others.

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A total of 34 countries are in the fray in the 'Open' section, while in the women's section, there are 24 nations.

An all-play-all round-robin will take place in Stage 1 with the qualifying teams to play in the round-of-16 knockout round.

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The competitions will be held in 'Open', seniors, women's and mixed categories.

India will take on Canada in the Group B opener in the 'Open' category, while in the senior section, they will square off against Turkey. The Indian women will play Brazil in the opener, while in the mixed section, they will compete against Germany.

The last time South America hosted the competition was in 2009 when it was organised in Sao Paulo.

The tournament is held every four years and every country can enter their team, without any pre-qualification.

"The WBF (World Bridge Federation) is introducing several new measures to ensure that our motto 'Zero Tolerance for Bad Behavior' is respected, for the enjoyment of all participants," said Jan Kamras, president, WBF in a statement.

The qualification round will conclude on October 26, with the round of 16 scheduled on October 28. The finals and playoffs will be held on November 2-3.

Indian teams:

Open -- Sanjit Dey, Ajay Khare, Binod Kumar Shaw, Jaggy Shivdasani, Sandeep Thakral, Raju Tolani, Vinay Desai (captain).

Seniors -- Arun Bapat, Pranab Kumar Bardhan, Badal Chandra Das, Ravi Goenka, Kamal Krishna Mukherjee, Vibhas Todi, Girish Bijoor (captain).

Women -- Puja Batra, Devi Muthu Bhatnagar, Bharati Dey, Alka Jain, Alka Kshirsagar, Asha Sharma, Anal Shah (captain).

Mixed: Himani Khandelwal, Rajeev Khandelwal, Bindiya Kohli, Kiran Nadar, Thondiculam Venkatraman Ramani, Bachiraju Satyanarayana, Vinay Desdai (captain).

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