Indonesia crashes out at Salt Lake City bridge
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.