Britain and Denmark renew bridge rivalry

Britain and Denmark renew bridge rivalry

JAKARTA (JP): A fresh bridge war is expected between Great
Britain and Denmark in the 96-board final of the fifth World
Junior Bridge Team Championship in Kuta, Bali, today and
tomorrow.

And if it comes to pass, it will be an exact repeat of last
year's European Junior Championship final in the Netherlands.

"There has always been a great battle between Denmark and
Great Britain. In the European Junior Championship Denmark was
leading comfortably. But it had a very tough match in the last
round," Patrick Jourdain, president of the British Bridge League
said yesterday.

With 231 Victory Points (VP), Great Britain took the lead from
the start of the junior championship in Bali. It went to
yesterday's 64-board semifinals together with Denmark, New
Zealand and Canada, which have gathered 205, 200 and 194
respectively.

Despite Jourdain's expectation, however, an alternative battle
-- pitting Great Britain against New Zealand -- is also quite
possible.

In yesterday's 64-board, four-sessions semifinals, New Zealand
gained an advantage over Denmark after leading 135-86 halfway.
Great Britain, on the other hand, was assured of a finals berth
after capping Canada 160-65, with just 16 boards left.

In the 12th round on Friday, the Britons thrashed China 22-8
but lost 7-23 to USA-1, after attempting a round with two new
partnerships. The other Friday results were: New Zealand routed
Indonesia 23-7, Canada whipped Australia 25-4 and Denmark put
aside USA-2 with 20-10.

Being the round robin winner by more than a full match, the
Britons were free to choose Canada as their semifinal opponents.

But Canada, and also New Zealand, won the coin tosses for
choice of positions. Each chose the first and fourth 16-board
segments. Yesterday's winners will meet in a 64-board final
today.

Host Indonesia was ousted in the fifth round of the junior
championship.

However, at the World Bridge Invitational Meet, which is also
taking place in Bali, Indonesia succeeded in placing two teams in
the semis, Antara reported.

The first team, consisting of Indonesia's number one pair of
Denny Sakul and Franky Karwur, recorded the highest VPs of 193
after beating a strong Dutch team 25-3. The second team is made
up of the world's number three Hengky Lasut and Eddy Manoppo.
That team went to the semis after collecting 177 VP. (arf)