National bridge team second after Senior Bowl qualifying session

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian contract bridge team finished second on Saturday after the qualifying matches of the Senior Bowl in Estoril, Portugal, a spokesman of the Indonesian Contract Bridge Association (Gabsi) said on Sunday.

"Indonesia entered the quarterfinal match in second position after routing Poland 24-6 in the last qualifying session," Bert Toar Polii said in an e-mail.

"Previously, Indonesia also defeated Sweden 22-8 and Morocco 18-12."

USA 1 team topped the last-eight session with 394 points while Indonesia -- namely Henky Lasut, Eddy Manoppo, Denny Sacul and Munawar Sawiruddin -- garnered 378 points.

USA 2 team was third with 363 points and Denmark fourth with 360 points.

Host Portugal was fifth with 355 points, France in sixth place with 354 points, the Netherlands was seventh with 352 points and Israel secured its place in the quarterfinals after defeating Bangladesh 25-1 for a total with 336 points.

The top four teams are allowed to pick their opponents from the lower four teams for Sunday's quarterfinals matches. The quarterfinal sessions were scheduled to start at 5 p.m. Jakarta time.

USA 1 picked France instead of Israel, which is at the bottom of the top eight.

"The choice was an obvious one because France was weakened by the withdrawal of its top player, Marice Ajelau, just before the tournament started," said Bert.

"Indonesia picked Portugal after our 24-6 victory over the host in the qualifying."

In other quarterfinals, USA 2 faces the Netherlands after a 25-5 victory while Denmark meets Israel.

"Studying the top-eight composition, I am sure Indonesia will move to the semifinals," said Bert.

"We even have a chance to be in the final."