RI faces early exit in bridge meet

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has been placed in the same group as the world's odds-on favorite for the Bermuda Bowl Open Team Bridge Championships, the Indonesian Bridge Association announced yesterday.

Indonesia, which belongs to Group West, in the championship slated for Oct. 8 to Oct. 20 in Beijing, risks an early exit as it will meet two of the world's powerhouses head-on, namely defending champion the Netherlands and former several time world champion, the U.S. One team.

The other teams in the same group as Indonesia are France, Argentine, South Africa, Venezuela and Australia, said the association's secretary-general, Frans Waleleng, referring to the World Bridge Federation's notification.

Group East, on the other hand, puts Italy, Sweden, Brazil, Egypt, Colombia, Canada and host China on the same string, he added.

Frans said the best four from each group will advance to the "knock down" round, in which the team which tops each group is given the right to choose their quarterfinals opponent.

Full competition system will be applied to the qualifying matches. This means each group will play against each other twice.

Frans said the team that Indonesia is fielding in the championship is the country's most experienced team. The team, which has been undergoing a series of rigorous training sessions since November last year, has played about 4,000 boards, including the boards they played at the Far East Championship in Perth, Sydney and Canberra and at the National Games and a world invitational meet in Denpasar, Bali, last July.

The association has yet to decide the formal line-up of the team. However, it is clear that the team will depend on the seasoned ace pairs of Denny Sakul and Franky Karwur; Munawar Sawirudin and Berce Toar Polii; Hengky Lasut and Eddy Manoppo; and Sance Panelewen and Giovani Watulingas. (arf)