National bridge team second after Senior Bowl qualifying session

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."