Indonesia wins Asia's Yeh Brothers Cup
Indonesia wins Asia's Yeh Brothers Cup
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia won the Yeh Brothers Cup bridge tournament with a
victory over Chinese Taipei in the final on Sunday.
"We defeated Taipei by 80-59 victory points. It was a tough
final match given the opponents were led by their national player
Cheng de Ming," Bert Toar Polii, one of the four-strong
Indonesian team, told The Jakarta Post here on Monday.
Other playing members included Henky Lasut, Eddy Manoppo and
Taufik Hasby. Indonesia won US$11,000.
"The winner takes all. Runner-up was granted a consolation
prize," Bert said.
The three-day tournament featured 20 teams from nine
countries: Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Hong Kong,
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.
Indonesia failed to advance past the quarterfinals of last
year's inaugural Yeh Brothers Cup, despite fielding two teams.
Bert said the competition was tough given the list of
participants. Japan came to the tournament with a Kenji Miyakuni-
led team, which won the Pan Asia Bridge Federation Championship
in Thailand last June.
"Australia should have been a serious contender with Paul
Marsten in the team. He guided an Australian team to third place
in Thailand," Bert, the deputy secretary general of the outgoing
board of the Indonesian Contract Bridge Association (Gabsi),
said.
The 20 teams played a preliminary round with the top eight
teams qualifying for the next stage.
In the quarterfinals, where the contestants played 24 boards,
Indonesia beat North Taiwan 60-22 points. It carried on with a
52-37 victory points win over the Philippines in the semifinals,
also played in 24 boards. The final match was staged in 32
boards.
As the defending champion, Indonesia has been assured a place
in the 2003 competition, scheduled to take place in Shanghai in
April and Kaohsiung in November.
In a separate development, Bert disclosed that Gabsi would
meet this week to discuss naming a new chairperson for the
organization.
Gabsi's top post has been vacant since the withdrawal of Hatta
Radjasa, who was elected chairman during a congress in Palembang,
South Sumatra, in July, from the post. Hatta is State Minister
for Research and Technology.
"It's likely that we will leave the matter to a caretaker at
the moment to oversee the preparations of an extraordinary
congress next July," Bert said, adding that Wiranto, who was
Hatta's predecessor, would return to assume the caretaker role.