Indonesia plans observation workout for contract bridge in Winter Games
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian bridge team for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games plans a reconnaissance workout in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in an attempt "to adjust the players to the freezing climate", an official said.
The workout is scheduled for Jan. 17-27, during which the team will be taking part in a six-day regional tournament starting on Jan. 22.
"The players need to adapt themselves to the freezing spell of winter," Bert Toar Polii, deputy secretary-general of the Indonesian Contract Bridge Association (Gabsi), told The Jakarta Post from the North Sulawesi capital of Manado on Wednesday.
"We have chosen that tournament because it is played in almost the same format as the real competition at Salt Lake City"
The team will depart for Salt Lake City on Jan. 28.
The bridge competition, to be played at the Winter Games for the first time as an exhibition sport, will run from Feb. 2 to Feb.6.
Apart from Indonesia, the competition will feature participants from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, India, Italy, Norway, Poland and host the United States.
The inclusion of bridge in the Olympics has brought about the consequence that the 2001 IOC Grand Prix, where Indonesia would have defended its title it won in Lausanne, was scrapped.
As expected, Eddy Manoppo/Henky Lasut, Denny Sacul/Santje Panelewen, Franky Karwur/Robert Tobing, who teamed up at the 2001 Bermuda Bowl in Paris, will spearhead the Indonesian team for the Salt Lake trip.
As in the Bermuda Bowl, where Indonesia's run was stopped by Norway in the quarterfinals, the Olympics bridge exhibition will be competed in a round-robin format, with the top four going through to the semifinals.
The difference is that the competition will adopt a scoring system known as 'board match', a soccer-like win-loss reward format aiming to provide the audience with an easily understandable match.
After an opening training session in Tangerang, the western suburb of Jakarta, the Indonesian players are undergoing the second phase of the training in Manado, where they will take part in a simulation rehearsal with nine local bridge clubs.
As shown in the number of teams and the competition format to adopt, the players are expected to perform as if they were being paired at the real competition.
Bert also revealed an earlier date of departure planned for Denny Sacul and Franky Karwur, as they were preparing for the Gemini Invitational Pairs in the Netherlands, which will feature the world's top 16 pairs.
Denny and Franky have assured themselves of an automatic berth, thanks to their impressive performance at last year's season, where they finished fourth.
"This could well be a good warmup field for Denny and Franky because the participants will certainly come, to mention a few, from the United States, Argentina, Brazil, France and Germany," Bert said.