RI expects victory at Far East bridge event

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Contract Bridge Association expects its players to win the Far East Bridge Championship in Hong Kong in May, which is a qualifying round for this year's Bermuda Bowl.

The association's chairman Wiranto said yesterday that the organization plans to send teams to three tournaments next month in preparation for the championship.

"We'll send our players to Tokyo, Iceland and the Gold Coast in February as preparation for the Far East. They must win the championship because if they fail they can't go through to the Bermuda Bowl," he said during a fast-breaking gathering with the winners of the Australian Open.

Indonesia's men's team, consisting of Denny Sacul, Taufik Asbi, Franky Karwur and Sance Panelewen, beat host Australia in the final 117-77 IMP.

One session was dropped because Tim Courtney/P.Gill and B.Travis/E.Havas were forced to default from the competition in which 292 teams participated.

"One of the Australian athletes suffered a heart attack in the second session. He took a break for one hour but after continuing the match for a further session, he couldn't stand the pain any longer," Denny said.

"The rules say that we should not give our opponents time to take a break but he suffered a heart attack and I decided to give him time to see a doctor," he added.

Wiranto said that the Indonesian players were under pressure during the championship because they had won it for the previous two years.

"This year, we didn't include our best pair of Eddy Manoppo and Hengky Lasut because they were playing in a tournament in the Netherlands," he said.

Wiranto said that he was very proud to see the newly formed partnership of Denny and Taufik perform so well.

"We'll keep on trying to give our athletes more experience by sending them abroad to take part in international tournaments or hiring foreign coaches," he said.

Yaap van der Neut of the Netherlands is grooming juniors and women athletes while Erick Kokish of Canada is coaching the seniors.

Wiranto said that Indonesia must strive to become the World Champion in 2001.

"In 2001, we will host the championship. Our athletes must be able to win it before our own public," he said. (yan)