Orlando "Ollie" Campos was an Indian bridge

Contract bridge

Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...

 player.

Campos was the mainstay of the famous Ruia team that dominated the Indian bridge scene from 1958 through the late seventies. He represented India in seven world championships and two zonal championships. His 22 national wins include open teams twice and open pairs once. He has been featured in many bridge publications, the most recent being a hand featured in the book Easier Done Than Said: Brilliancy at the Bridge Table by Dr. Prakash K. Paranjape. His most frequent partner was Ashok Ruia.

"Ollie", as he was popularly known was a fine technician and also one of the fastest players in the world. For a long time he held the record for the highest number of masterpoints

Masterpoints

Masterpoints or master points are points awarded by national and other bridge organisations for success in bridge tournaments run under their auspices. Organisations which issue these points include the American Contract Bridge League , the American Bridge Association, the English Bridge Union ,...

 in India.

Personal anecdotes

Besides playing bridge, Campos also used to direct the game where he is fondly remembered for his ability to do matchpoint scores in "double-fast time." One of the funny memories of him is his tendency to relapse into, "Sorry, my fault – I am a palooka, you are expert," whenever he got riled by his partner.

On the way to a bridge event that he was attending, Ollie's flight got hijacked

Aircraft hijacking

Aircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers. Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves, such as the September 11 attacks of 2001...

 (c. 1984). Ultimately the hijackers were attacked by commando

Commando

In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...

es, but at age 70+, Ollie was reportedly one of the first passengers to have escaped down the emergency chute

Parachute

A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...

.

He was a keen amateur philatelist

Philately

Philately is the study of stamps and postal history and other related items. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting, which does not necessarily involve the study of stamps. It is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps...

whose specialization was "Early Indian First Day Cancellations."

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