Norway again spoils Indonesia's brigde high hopes
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia had to abandon dreams of an unprecedented Bermuda Bowl championship victory after succumbing to Norway in the quarterfinals in Paris on Monday.
There was also a surprise as defending champion United States I was forced to scrap its quest for a second straight title after a defeat to Italy.
The quarterfinal matches, which featured the top eight teams from the preliminary round, were played over six sessions beginning on Sunday.
Indonesia, whose triumph at the 2000 IOC Grand Prix in Lausanne could have provided it with a boost going into Paris, beat Norway in the preliminary round but failed to reproduce the winning formula as the European side fought back with an overall score of 297 IMPs to 215.3 IMPs.
Meanwhile, Italy denied U.S. I its chance of defending the trophy it won in Bermuda last year with a 262-146 IMPs win.
It was the second time in as many years that Norway had stopped Indonesia at the quarterfinal stage.
"As I said before it was too difficult a task for Indonesia to reach the semifinals. Once again we have fallen at the hands of the Norwegians," coach Bert Toar Polii said, seemingly in despair.
Bert seemed to be ruing Indonesia's early chances in the first three sessions when the Henky Lasut-led team lost by only narrow margins, 43-51 IMPs in the first, 45-49 IMPs in the second and 33-39 IMPs in the third.
"They squandered their chances. Worse still, they appeared unable to mend their performance in the remaining three sessions," Bert said.
Key pair Henky/Eddy Manoppo stayed in the line-up only to see the team fail even more comprehensively, being crushed with 30-67 IMPs in the fourth session and 36-75 IMPs in the fifth.
The two senior players were then rested for the final session, in which the team showed its strength. But the 27-16 IMPs victory proved to be a mere consolation for them.
Although U.S. I fell by the wayside, the Americans were keeping their championship hopes alive with U.S. II, which edged out host France with a score of 276-178 IMPs. The other semifinalist is Poland, which overpowered India with 297-105 IMPs.
In the Venice Cup, France, U.S. II, Germany and Austria all cruised to the semifinals after beating South Africa 254-132 IMPs, England 265-211 IMPs, U.S I 264-196 IMPs and China 237.7- 157 IMPs respectively.
While the top four teams are continuing their chase for the Bermuda title, the rest will be looking to salvage some pride when they compete in the World Transnational Open Team Championship (WTOT).
The participants, numbering 74 teams, include those from the countries that have failed to qualify for the 2001 World Bridge Championships.
The teams may also contain players of different nationalities. One of the mixed nationality teams is the combination of Zia Mahmood (Pakistan) and Michael Rosenberg (U.S.).