Indonesia on course for quarterfinals
Indonesia on course for quarterfinals
Musthofid
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
The Indonesian men's team made a clean sweep of Japan, Italy
and Brazil on Friday to return to the top eight on the
provisional standings at the Bermuda Bowl bridge championship in
Paris.
Henky Lasut/Eddy Manoppo led the team to a 17-13 victory over
Japan in the opening session match which indicates that they have
recovered from their shock defeat by Australia in the final
session on Thursday.
"That's a relief. Last night's surprise loss did not appear to
affect our national team's performance," coach Bert Toar Polii
said from Paris.
Two following wins, 21-9 and 18-12 over 13-time champion Italy
and world number six Brazil respectively, brought Indonesia's
points to 234 and placed it in sixth.
Unlike previous matches, Indonesia made no reshuffle during
the changeovers between sessions, with Henky/Eddy and
Franky/Denny sitting in through all the sessions.
With two sessions remaining before the knock-out quarterfinals
on Sunday, the United States I, the U.S. II, Poland, Norway and
Italy look to be virtual qualifiers, with big gap separating them
from the chasing pack.
Indonesia, India, France, Egypt and Russia will be vying for
the three places left.
A contrasting fate befell their female compatriots competing
in the cofeaturing Venice Cup as Lusje Bojoh and company slumped
further in the three sessions on the day.
They were pounded by France, South Africa and the United
States II and were pushed back to 16th with 173 points in the 18-
field tournament.
The latest result seems to provide legitimate grounds for
recent criticism at home, which has revolved around what people
claim was the premature inclusion of young players.
However, Bert, who is the deputy secretary-general of the
Indonesian Contract Bridge Association (Gabsi), defended the
women's team selection.
"I think Gabsi's decision to send young players is acceptable.
"Their appointment was in no way groundless. The four players,
excluding Lusje Bojoh and Elita Sofyan, were 2000 national
winners," he said.
He added that many senior players had no fixed partners.
"Speaking about the result, I'd bet it wouldn't have made a
difference who was fielded," Bert said, recalling the 2000 Venice
Cup in which the Indonesian women's team, comprised of seniors,
ended up 15th out of 20.
Provisional standings
Bermuda Bowl: 1. U.S. I, 221 VP, 2. U.S. II, 220 VP, 3. Poland
218 VP, 4. Italy 214 VP, 5. Norway, 206 VP, 6. Egypt 185 VP, 7.
Russia 184.6 VP, 8. Japan 180 VP, 9. Indonesia 178 VP, 10. India
177 VP, 11. Brazil 175 VP, 12. Australia 170.9 VP, 13. France 169
VP 14. Israel 168 VP, 15. Argentina 161.5 VP, 16. New Zealand 139
VP, 17. Guadalupe 137 VP, 18. Hong Kong 116 VP.
Venice Cup: 1. France 253 VP, 2. England 236 VP, 3/4.
Austria/China 213 VP, 5. U.S. I 209 VP, 6/7. Germany/South Africa
192 VP, 8. Netherlands 190 VP, 9. Italy 177 VP, 10. U.S. II 174
VP, 11. Israel 173 VP, 12. Canada 167.6 VP, 13. Japan 162 VP, 14.
Australia 149 VP, 15. Indonesia 146 VP, 16. Brazil 145.5 VP, 17.
Venezuela 112.5 VP, 18. India 101.4.