All-Indonesia quarter in SEA bridge meet

All-Indonesia quarter in SEA bridge meet

JAKARTA (JP): Defending champion Volta of Manado, North Sulawesi, edged Ibnu Armah of South Jakarta out of the Southeast Asian inter-club bridge championships quarterfinals in Manila on Monday.

Big wins in the final six sessions on Monday put the 12-time- winner Volta in fourth place of Pool A with 158 victory points. Volta left his fellow Indonesian behind by no more than a 14- point margin.

The North Sulawesi team, bidding for its 13th title, will play another Indonesian club, Pattimura of South Jakarta, for a place in the semifinals.

Indonesia's regular backbones at the Bermuda Bowl world championship, Henky Lasut and Eddy Manoppo, inspired Volta's late fight-back on Monday. They stormed to four unanimous wins, a draw and only one defeat in the final sessions.

The Philippines dominated the round-robin matches in Pool A, with the Yang and Virola clubs finishing first and third respectively. ROSC of Thailand came third to become the only Thai team to make it to the quarterfinals.

Pattimura topped Pool B with 221 points, followed by Pertamina. The other remaining quarterfinal berths went to Agrego and Barredo of the Philippines.

Only the top four teams of each group qualify for the quarterfinals which will be played in a knock-out format.

Pertamina surprisingly conceded a 1-25 rout by Singapore to avoid an early meeting with title holder Volta. Group runner-up Pertamina will meet Virola of the Philippines in the final eight round.

In the women's division, Pattimura saved Indonesia from blushing, when it booked a semifinal slot on Monday. Pattimura finished second in the group and will now take on ROSC of Thailand for a place in the final.

The other semifinals will be an all Philippines affair as Santiago faces TAN. (amd)