Pratap played in a tournament to select two teams to represent the US in the world senior championship in Italy in March. The tournament was open to all members of the United States Bridge Federation aged 62 or older.

The way the tournament worked is as follows:

• An online tournament was held in early October to reduce the field to 8 teams.
• The 8 teams met in person in Schaumberg, IL to play a double elimination knockout. The teams were seeded from 1 to 8 with 1 playing 8, 2 playing 7 etc. in the first round.
• After the 1st round the 4 teams that won stayed in the winner’s bracket, the 4 that lost dropped into the loser’s bracket. Once you lose 2 matches you go home. Pratap’s team lost in the first round to drop into the loser’s bracket.
• After the 2nd round the 2 winners in the winner’s bracket moved on to the final. Meanwhile the teams in the loser’s bracket play each other to get down to 2. The winner of the winner’s bracket final is designated USA 1. The two semifinal losers drop into the loser’s bracket to play the two survivors there.
• Eventually the losing finalist from the winner’s bracket plays the lone survivor from the loser’s bracket. The winner of that match is designated USA 2.
• A top Pro team called Levine went undefeated and beat another top Pro team called Gupta in the winner’s bracket final to become USA 1. Pratap’s team was the lone survivor from the loser’s bracket. They played and beat Gupta in the 2nd final to become USA 2.
• In golf terms Levine won the US Senior Open and Pratap won the Senior PGA and now we both get to represent our great country at the World’s in Italy.
• Pratap’s team was the only team in the event playing 4-handed. This meant that every member of the team had to play every deal, about 9 hours of intense bridge for 8 straight days.