Page 6 - ABF Newsletter April 2025

MEET SOPHIE ASHTON
JOSH TOMLIN tells the story of Australia’s newest Open Team representative
Last November Sophie Ashton, Dave Wiltshire, Phil MarkeyandJoeHafferwontheOpenPlayoff,andthe honour of representing Australia at this year’s APBF and Bermuda Bowl. They selected top Australian pair Liam Milne and James Coutts to join their team, and will be heading to China in May and Denmark in August. Sophie is the first woman to win the Open Playoffs since Pauline Gumby in 2006 and 2007.
Sophie grew up in Sydney, and studied Applied Maths at the University of Sydney, graduating in 2005 with the University Medal. While she planned to take a gap year, it was only six months before she got bored and started her career at investment bank Goldman Sachs, working in risk management. Later she transitioned to a Quantitative Analyst at Barclays Capital, another investment bank, for the Exotic Op- tions team. This sent her to work in Tokyo for two years, and also do some study in London. Unfortu- nately when the GFC hit, the team was dismantled and Sophie returned to Australia.
After a couple of years of floating between more study and other options trading jobs, Sophie started searching for a more fulfilling career. She and her father had an idea to make healthcare more accessi- ble in Goulburn, a large regional city an hour out of Canberra. They took some land that her dad owned, and started the Goulburn Health Hub, a multidisci- plinary medical centre with visiting specialists and doctors. Since opening in 2016, the centre is now thriving with over 70 consulting specialists, ten GPs, pathology services and even a cafe.
As a child, Sophie always liked games but didn’t want to learn bridge since it was the only time her parents ever argued. This started to change when she was 18 and went on a holiday to Argentina with her dad. When they had to kill time, they played a form of two-player bridge. Four hands were dealt with two dummies, and each player would be in charge of two opposing hands. You bid the hands and played literally double dummy, certainly still a challenge for new players and a great way to learn the game.
After this trip, while completing her undergrad, Sophie started attending the Sydney Uni Bridge Club. Each session was run by familiar names such as Peter Buchen, Warren Lazer and Gabby Feiler. She played the occasional congress, but her first national tourna- ment experience wasn’t until 2006, playing the Gold Coast with her mother. The Gold Coast always has a large youth presence, and Sophie strongly identified with the group of youth playing. She even met her first boyfriend there, a young, strapping Mike Doecke.
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Sophie took a bridge
hiatus while working
and living in Japan, but
she came back to the
game around 2013. Her
friend Dave Wiltshire, a
much more experienced
player than her at the
time, was happy to play
with her and introduced her to State events. She also played some events with Michael Wilkinson, who in- troduced her to the rest of the national scene.
It was around this time that Sophie met her hus- band, Sartaj Hans. Sophie describes Sartaj as an ex- cellent teacher, with much of their early conversa- tions revolving around bidding theory and defence. She feels that these conversations had a significant impact on the development of her game. They mar- ried in 2015 and are about to celebrate their ten- year anniversary (while Sophie, showing true com- mitment to the game, will be playing in China). They live in Goulburn with their two girls, Rosie (7) and Sasha (8). Sasha plays chess, but Sophie does not think they will want to play bridge anytime soon. At the moment they associate bridge tournaments with a parent being absent for the week, and having lots of bridge talk in the house does get boring for them.
One of Sophie’s first big national wins was the ANOT in 2019. She partnered Paul Gosney with Sartaj and Helena Dawson as teammates. In the final, Sophie and Paul were excellent on slam hands:
Board 9. Dealer North. East-West vulnerable.
]43
[ A J 10 6 4
} A K Q J 10 8
{— ]Q92
] 10 7 6
[KQ7 [8532 }65 }972 {QJ973
]AKJ85 {AK6 [9
}43
{108542
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Johannsson Gosney McCallum Ashton
1} pass 1] pass 2[ pass 2] pass 3[ pass 4} pass 5{ pass 6}
all pass
Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: April 2025