Gabsi to launch drive to promote bridge talent

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In an attempt to foster new talent, the Indonesian Contract Bridge Association (Gabsi) will promote bridge in schools, said the newly appointed chairwoman, Miranda Goeltom, on Wednesday.

"In France or the Netherlands, bridge is taught from as early as the fifth grade at elementary schools or in junior high schools," Miranda said after she was installed as the new Gabsi chief at the National Sports Council (KONI) office here on Wednesday.

"That's why Europe has far more bridge players than Indonesia," she said.

Miranda said the data shows that Indonesia has only 5,000 players, or about 0.0040 percent of the country's population of 210 million.

"Given that there are 700,000 players in the world, it appears that 5,000 is a very small percentage. Therefore, it's urgent that we push forward with our drive.

"If we don't reach the next generation immediately, we will be in for stagnation as the gap between senior and junior players will be too wide to close," she said.

Indonesian bridge players have put in quite a good run at international competitions. National players won the 1991 Bridge Olympiad in Lausanne, Switzerland, finished as runners-up in 1996 in Rhode Island and in 2002 in Montreal, just to mention a few.

However, the one blight in the accomplishment was that young players had hardly featured on the team. Eddy Manoppo and Denny Sacul, both well into their 50s, were always the key players for every occasion.

Indonesia could have been the host of the 2001 Bermuda Bowl, but the tournament, which had been initially scheduled to take place in Bali, was shifted to France due to security concerns.

Miranda said Gabsi would pursue another chance to play host for the 2004 edition.

"We will try to retrieve an opportunity to host next year's championship," she said.

Miranda, who is the deputy governor of Bank Indonesia, took over the top helm of Gabsi in December 2002 after the post had been vacant for three months following the withdrawal of Hatta Radjasa. Hatta was appointed chairman in August 2002, but quit after only one month.

According to the board member list, the copies of which were made available to the media, the 2002 to 2006 period has an overall 46 board members.

Miranda is assisted by deputy chairman Roy E. Tirtadji and executive director Amiruddin Yusuf. Anindra Lubis is the secretary-general and Julius Tedjasukmana is the treasurer.