Indoensia assured of Winter Games berth

Indoensia assured of Winter Games berth

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia is set for an unprecedented entry in the Winter
Olympics following the inclusion of the national team in the 10-
field bridge exhibition event at the upcoming 2002 Games in Salt
Lake City, Utah.

The official notification was released by the World Bridge
Federation (WBF) in its official letter sent to Gabsi, the
country's bridge governing body, dated Nov. 9.

Indonesia, one of only two Asian teams, will be joined in the
Olympic competition in Salt Lake by Australia, Brazil, Canada,
Egypt, India, Italy, Norway, Poland and the host United States.

Bert Toar Polii, Gabsi's deputy secretary general, told The
Jakarta Post that the entry policy was based not only on the
participants' achievements in the world's major bridge
tournaments, but on the federation's worldwide goals.

Italy, Norway, Poland, and the U.S. received their berths, due
to their undisputed dominance and high rank in international
bridge, while Indonesia has joined the elite ranks, particularly
courtesy of its championship title at the 2000 IOC Grand Prix in
Lausanne.

"WBF also wanted all regions of the world to be represented at
the competition," Bert said.

He did however state that those teams in the lower half of the
rankings should not, by any means, be taken lightly.

"Some of them have proven from the Bermuda Bowl that they are
teams to be reckoned with in tournaments," he said in a reference
to the recently-concluded World Bridge Championship in Paris,
where Indonesia struggled through from the preliminary round
before being defeated by Norway in the quarterfinals.

In an attempt to draw more bridge fans, the Salt Lake bridge
competition will be played with the scoring system called 'board
match', which will provide easily understandable match standings
between two teams.

The scoring system will also adopt the soccer-like win-loss
reward format in which a win is awarded two points, a draw is
worth a point and a defeat is zero.

"At the Bermuda Bowl, match results were first given out in
IMPs (International Match Point), which had to be converted into
Victory Points before the spectators knew who won or lost," Bert
said.

Gabsi is currently grooming four pairs for the American trip.
They are Eddy Manoppo/Henky Lasut, Denny Sacul/Santje Panelewen,
Franky Karwur/Robert Tobing and Giovanni Watulengas/Taufik Hasbi
Gautamam.

Although the first three pairs, which are former Bermuda Bowl
squads, are most likely to retain their places for the American
trip, Bert hinted that the fourth pair's chance of joining the
traveling team was a possibility.

"We'll see whether they show progress during the training
workouts," he said.

The team is scheduled to spar with Jakarta's 10 leading bridge
clubs next Friday as part of the team's planned weekly try-out
prior to their departure to the U.S.