Indonesia cruises into Olympic bridge semis
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's men's team carved out a piece of history when they cruised into the semifinals of the 10th Bridge Olympics on Rhodes Island, Greece, Tuesday evening after beating the 1990 World Champion Iceland.
Team manager Ananta Widjaja said Tuesday that the national team, comprising Eddy Manoppo/Hengky Lasut, Denny Sacul/Franky Karwur, defeated Iceland's Jon Baldursson/Sevar Thorbjornsson and Gudmundur Arnarson/Adalsteinn Jorgensen 180-115.
The national team now challenges Denmark, which eliminated former World Champion Italy 161-139, in the last four.
Defending champion France, which defeated underdog Russia 203- 138, will take on former runner-up China Taipei, which won narrowly against former World Champion Poland 132-122.
Ananta said that the team's key to success is making sure that all the players are able to maintain their physical and mental condition during the 10-day Olympics.
Indonesia, runner-up in Group A after France, recorded its best achievement in the quadrennial event, which is being contested by 71 countries.
For the first time in history, the country reached the final four. The team's previous best performance was the quarterfinals at the 1984 Olympics in Seattle, U.S.A.
Indonesia debuted in the quadrennial event in 1976 in Monaco and came 14th out of the 45 participating countries.
The country cruised into the big four of the 1974 Bermuda Bowl Championships in Manila, Philippines and in 1975 in Venesia, Italy. Only six countries, including Indonesia, took part in the championships.
In the last Olympics in Salsomadiore, Italy, Indonesia's team, comprising Giovanny Watulingas/Sance Panelewen, Donny Tuerah/Noldy George and Ong Khan Him/Dadang Wiradia, only finished 14th out of the 45 participants.
In the women's division, China beat Israel 129-57, the U.S.A. defeated the Netherlands 128-70, Canada eliminated Germany 125-91 and Austria won 109-82 against England.
The semifinals, which will be staged over six sessions, takes place from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2. (yan)