Indonesia moves up the ranks in World Bridge

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian men's bridge team clawed its way up the standings in the Bermuda Bowl after registering three wins and a loss at the ongoing World Bridge Championships in Monte Carlo, Monaco on Wednesday.

The ladies team, which is competing in the Venice Cup, recorded another big upset victory, this time over defending champion Germany, following defeats of the Netherlands, USA1 and England, all former world champions, on Tuesday.

After completing seven rounds, the Bermuda Bowl contested another four rounds on Wednesday, during which Robert Tobing/Taufik G. Asbi, Santje Panelewen/Franky Karwur and Santoso Sie/Stefanus Supeno played alternately for the Indonesian team.

They chalked up an 18-12 victory in the eighth round over USA1, which lined up the world's best players Bob Hamman, Jeff Meckstroth and Eric Rodwell, reports said.

They continued their winning run over 2002 European runner-up Spain with a 17-13 victory in the ninth round.

Poland snapped Indonesia's march in the tenth round before the Indonesians rebounded by nipping Egypt 16.5-13.

"Indonesia was penalized half a point for slow play," said Bert Toar Polii, an official of the Indonesian Contract Bridge Association (Gabsi), who is monitoring Indonesia's performance from Jakarta.

Indonesia has improved its spot on the leaderboard, now at 12th with 157.5 points after 11 rounds. Chinese Taipei and China, the other two representatives from Zone 6, were in seventh and 11th respectively.

Italy (222 points), USA2 (213 points) and USA1 (205.5) were the leading trio with ten rounds remaining to be played.

Indonesia's next opponents are Uruguay, South Africa and Pakistan.

"The next matches should be decisive in Indonesia's race for a spot in the quarterfinals. Given their (opponents') performance, Indonesia should be able to bag big points," Bert said.

After taking big scalps from the Netherlands, USA1 and England, the Indonesian ladies team scraped to a narrow 16-14 win over defending champion Germany in the eighth round.

However, two consecutive crushing defeats -- 5-25 to India in the sixth round and 7-23 to Brazil in the seventh round condemned Indonesia to 13th place with 104 points.

Chinese Taipei stayed on top with 147 points followed by USA1 with 146 points and China 145 points.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian senior team competing in the Senior Bowl had mixed results on Wednesday, winning over a combined team of Brazil/Argentina 17-13 and losing to USA2 by the same score.

With an overall 105 points Indonesia, with the inclusion of Eddy Manoppo and Henky Lasut, has been a strong contender for the trophy, but they remain in fourth place behind France (125 points), Australia (114.5 points) and USA1 (114 points).