Indonesia crashes out at Salt Lake City bridge

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia's dream of defending the IOC Grand Prix championship has been spoilt by its being denied a semifinal place in the bridge exhibition to be held at the 2002 Winter Olympics, which are due to be opened in Salt Lake City on Friday.

Indonesia, with team members Eddy Manoppo, Denny Sacul, Franky Karwur and Robert Tobing, could only finish in fifth place with 135 Victory Points (VP) after nine preliminary rounds were completed on Monday.

Ending up ahead of Indonesia were Italy (173 VPs), Norway (144.3 VPs) Poland (141.5 VPs) and Canada (140.7 VPs), as reported in www.bridge.gr.

Indonesia won the 2000 IOC Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its failure to reach the semifinals -- let alone to defend the title -- must have been rued given the result of its match against Poland in the final round.

Until the eight round on Monday, in which they drew in their two matches against Egypt and United States, Eddy and teammates remained in fourth place, one point ahead of Poland.

"They did not need a win. A draw would have sent them through to the semifinals," Bert Toar Polii, a bridge observer, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Poland pounded Indonesia 19-11.

Bert, who is also the deputy secretary-general of the Indonesian Contract Bridge Association (Gabsi), said the team had not contacted him as it was supposed to have to release its match results to the media.

But he speculated that a tense psychological frame of mind might have cost the team the semifinal berth.

"The fact that they did not need to win probably caused them to become nervous," he said, adding that a draw with Egypt must have been equal to a loss.

Canada and Poland have managed to go on to the final. Canada upset Olympiad champion Italy, while Poland took its final place at the expense of Bermuda Bowl runner-up Norway.

In the women's category, France beat the Netherlands to face the United States, which edged out Venice Cup champion Germany, in the final.

The next IOC Grand Prix is scheduled for Montreal, but the event may be abandoned if bridge is accepted as an official sport contested at the Winter Olympics.

Bert said that an IOC meeting in Mexico this November would seal the issue of whether the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy would herald a medal contention in bridge.