RI leads USA-2 in Bermuda Bowl

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia took a 129-99 lead over USA-2 in the quarterfinals of the Bermuda Bowl men's team world bridge championship in Beijing after three sessions on Saturday.

Both Indonesia and USA-2 were slated to finish the remaining three sessions yesterday.

"I hope Hengky Lasut and his teammates can maintain their playing stability," said Amran Zamzami, executive director of the Indonesian Bridge Association, from Beijing.

In the first session, Indonesia's number one pair of Hengky Lasut and Eddy Manoppo together with senior pair of Denny Sakul and Franky Karwur beat USA-2 46-31. The American team, which played against the Indonesian pairs, consisted of three pairs of Jeff Meckstroth and Eric Rodwell; Bob Hamman and Bobby Wolf; Richard Freeman and Nick Nickell.

In the second session, non-playing captain Yasin Widjaja decided to field Santje Panelewen and Giovani Watulingas instead of Danny and Franky in order to give the latter pair a rest.

But the new pair was not strong enough to hold the Americans. Indonesia fell 29-30 to USA-1.

In the third session, Yasin put Danny and Franky back on the board and Indonesia won 53-39.

If Indonesia manages to get into the semifinals, it will be a repeat of its 1974, 1975 and 1983 performances. At that time, Indonesia ranked fourth in the world.

Meanwhile, until Saturday's three sessions, host China surprisingly took a 101-87 lead over France, Canada racked up a surplus of 54 points over South Africa's 66 and the Netherlands suffered a 105-110 deficit to Sweden.

Indonesia took part in the Bermuda Bowl championship for the first time in 1973 in Brazil. At that time there were five contestants and Indonesia finished fifth. The Bermuda Bowl championship was held for the first time in 1950 on the island of Bermuda. (arf)