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)