Anshul Bhatt is a bridge player from Mumbai, India. He was the youngest winner of all three gold medals in Under-16 Pairs, Teams, and Overall Performance at the 7th World Youth Transnational Bridge Championships held in Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy, 2022. Later that year, he was selected as the Personality of the Year by International Bridge Press Association.
Bhatt has participated in various open category local, national, and international tournaments. He won the Junior National Bridge Championships (U-26) in Mysore, India, in August 2018, and the Junior National Bridge Championship (U-21) in December 2021. He is the youngest player to have represented India at a World Event and was the youngest participant at the 5th World Youth Bridge Championships in Lyon, France, in August 2017. He was chosen as the flag bearer for the oath-taking to open the Championship and also won the prestigious Joan Gerard Award there.
Anshul Bhatt was born in 2008 in Mumbai, India. He studies at Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai, India. Bhatt is a squash player, and attended a camp where he was trained by Ritwik Bhattacharya. His article "Squash, Serenity and Self-Realisation"[1] [2] was published on News18.
Bhatt started playing bridge at the age of six and a half years. He played his first tournament at Indian Gymkhana in Mumbai at the age of 7. He was the youngest to represent India[3] at the age of 8 at any World Youth Bridge Championships in Lyon, France. At the event, he was also the youngest recipient of Joan Gerard Award[4] in the U-16 category.
At the age of 12, he delivered a TED talk at Shoolini University titled "Bridge - A Game for life[5] [6] " in 2021.
Bhatt won three gold medals – Pairs[7],[8] Teams (as Captain) and Overall Performance – for India at the Under-16 World Bridge Transnational Youth Championships in August 2022 at the 7th World Youth Transnational Bridge Championships held in Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy by the World Bridge Federation.[9]
Bhatt was trained by Eric Kokish, who died in 2023[10]) and Keyzad Anklesaria from India.
In December 2022, Bhatt joined was selected as the joint 2022 - Personality of the Year by International Bridge Press Association.[11]
In 2022, Bill Gates - referring to the Hindustan Times article - "Meet Anshul Bhatt a Bridge Whiz and World Champion at 13[12] "[13] - posted on Linkedin[14] [15] and Twitter.[16] In 2023, on a visit to India, Bill Gates met with Bhatt and posted on Instagram.[17] Gates wrote, "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!". He also posted on Gatesnotes,[18] Linkedin, Twitter,[19] Facebook.[20]
Times of India did a front-page story on Bhatt "Meet the 14-year old who Bill Gates wants to partner with[21] [22] "
Sachin Tendulkar had a conversation[23] [24] with Bhatt before the World Championships talking about handling pressure and playing competitive sports. He also met with Bhatt after the gold medals.[25]
Kiran Nadar wrote about Bhatt in her Forbes article "Bridge-ing Generations: From old-gen pastime to a recognised sport".[26] [27]