Indonesia, France battle for bridge lead
Indonesia, France battle for bridge lead
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia cruised to a hat trick of wins on the
fourth day of the 10th Bridge Olympics on Rodos Island, Greece,
Wednesday to step up the pressure on group leader France.
Indonesia's three convincing wins included a 21-9 upset of
defending champion France in the 14th session of the tournament.
The quartet of Eddy Manoppo/Henky Lasut and Giovanni
Watulingas/Sance Panelewen completed the day with a 17-13 win
over Chile and another 21-9 rout of China to lie second behind
France on the Group A leader board.
After 16 sessions on Wednesday, France had collected 323
victory points to go nine points clear of Indonesia. New Zealand
was third just a point behind Indonesia, while Spain was fourth
on 305.
In Group B, Italy shot to the top of the standings with 308
points, just half a point better than overnight leader Israel.
Iceland, Chinese Taipei and Norway were third, fourth and fifth
respectively.
The Indonesian women, however, failed to emulate their
compatriots' commendable showing, managing only a draw with
Pakistan and losing to Hungary to stay in 17th place with 126
points.
Indonesia's non-playing men's captain Munawar Sawiruddin said
that his team's illustrious win over France was a matter of pair
choices.
"We picked the number one pair of Henky and Eddy to play
France's trump cards Alain Levy and Hervei Moueil who have never
won in their previous encounters," Munawar was quoted by Antara
as saying.
The Indonesian duo last beat the Frenchmen in the Cup Volmac
invitational tournament in The Hague, the Netherlands, last
January.
Munawar's strategy paid off when Henky and Eddy maintained
their winning streak over the French number one pair. The victory
inspired Giovanni and Sance to down France's second-string duo of
Christian Mari and Marc Bompis.
On the fifth day, Indonesia expects to garner 90 more points
from matches against Denmark, Argentina, Bermuda and Sweden. A
total of 135 countries are taking part in quadrennial event.
(amd)