Indonesia trails France in bridge final
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia got off to a nervy start and trailed defending champion France by 40 points midway through the men's final of the 10th Bridge Olympics on Rhodes Island, Greece, yesterday.
The Indonesian team, exhausted after a tense eight-board playoff against Denmark in Thursday's semifinal, went 49 points down in the first of eight sessions, played over two days, and dropped another two points in the second session.
In the third however Indonesia's experienced quartet of Henky Lasut/Eddie Manoppo and Denny Sacul/Franky Karwur turned the tide by beating three-time gold medalist France by 17 points to narrow the margin to 34. They lost ground again in the fourth session, this time by six points, but Denny expressed guarded optimism that a historic win remained within Indonesia's reach.
"Everything has returned to normal. We have settled our nerves following the nail-biting semifinal," Denny told The Jakarta Post.
The final is a replay of a Group A match between the two teams won by the Indonesians 21-9.
Indonesia's chief of mission Roy Tirtadji said he had anticipated the first-session reverse.
Indonesia was five points behind Denmark at the end of the six-session semifinal and was declared the loser. A recalculation however showed that the two countries finished level on 217 points.
In the playoff, Indonesia looked hopeless after trailing Denmark 1-8 after the first seven boards. On the last board, however, Indonesia miraculously turned the tables on Denmark by scoring a 12-1 win for its final berth.
Franky said: "We were all very exhausted. We have been playing from 11 a.m. to 00:00 hours everyday for 12 days now, not to mention the eight-board playoff against Denmark."
In the women's division, China trailed 113-159 behind Bermuda Bowl champion the United States, also after the third session.
Bridge observer Januar Dt. Majolelo said yesterday that the Indonesians needed extra endurance to beat France, winner in 1960, 1980 and 1992.
"The final is always reduced to a battle of the fittest, disregarding the mastery in technique," Januar, a renowned bridge columnist, said. (arf/amd)