Indonesia eyes Winter Olympics in contract bridge

Indonesia eyes Winter Olympics in contract bridge

JAKARTA (JP): With the recognition of the World Bridge
Federation (WBF) as an international sports federation in the
Olympic family, Indonesia has for the first time the opportunity
to take part in the Winter Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided to stage
bridge as an exhibition event at the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter
Games and as a medal event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

The secretary-general of the Indonesian Contract Bridge
Association (Gabsi), Abdullah Imran, told The Jakarta Post on
Saturday that Indonesia stood a great chance of taking part in
the Winter Olympics in bridge.

"First, Indonesia has to defend its world title in order to
secure its place in the Winter Games. We can retain the title
either at the Bermuda Bowl or the IOC Grand Prix to secure our
place in the 2002 Games.

"It's up to the IOC and WBF to invite countries to the event.
But for the 2006 Winter Games, we will do our best to ensure
Indonesia's place," he said.

Imran was interviewed on the sidelines of the opening ceremony
for the 16th Navy Chief of Staff (KASAL) Cup open tournament at
the Navy Officers House on Jl. Prapatan in Central Jakarta.

Currently, Indonesia holds the world bridge title. The
Indonesian team of Eddy Manoppo, Hengky Lasut, Frank Karwur and
Denny Sacul grabbed the title by defeating defending champion
Italy at the Third IOC Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland, last
year.

The Fourth Grand Prix will also be held at the IOC
headquarters in Lausanne, while Bali will host the Bermuda Bowl
sometime in October.

Meanwhile, Gabsi chairman Wiranto said the association was
holding discussions with the Ministry of National Education's
Directorate General of Elementary and Higher Education to arrange
to make bridge an elective in schools.

"This is part of our efforts to have more young bridge players
in the country," he said.

At an intervarsity bridge tournament in the Netherlands last
August, the Indonesian team finished in 10th place out of 20
countries from around the world. The first nine teams were all
from Europe.

KASAL Cup

Earlier in the morning, Wiranto officially opened the two-day
KASAL Cup, saying Gabsi's current success was the fruit of a hard
and long struggle.

"We did not win the world title by sheer luck, but through
continuous practice. We prepared the athletes for almost six
years," he told the audience and bridge players.

"Gabsi even supports them by providing them allowances so that
they can concentrate on practicing bridge without being bothered
with their day-to-day necessities," he added.

Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Indroko Sastrowiryono said the Navy
would stage the KASAL Cup annually instead of biennially as soon
as the country's economic conditions allowed.

"Currently, the Navy finds it difficult to organize the event
on an annual basis, but we will do our best as part of our
continuous support of bridge," he said in a written statement
read by Navy Deputy Chief of Staff Vice Adm. Fred Salem Lonan.

Sixty-six teams are taking part in the open tournament. The
teams come from the Navy, seniors, bridge clubs and students.

Prior to the open tournament, the Navy staged an internal
tournament on Thursday and Friday. Both events are organized by
the Navy's Sea Transport Command (Kolinlamil).

In the internal tournament, the Kolinlamil-A team won the
team-of-four event with 117 points, followed by the Surabaya
Naval Main Base team with 116 points and the Bitung Naval Base
team with 113 points.

In the pairs event, Imran Mochtar and Kasmin grabbed first
place, followed by Herry Pramono and Ronny Wowor, and Iskandar
and Prihanto. (nvn)