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)