RI loses points but likely to qualify

JAKARTA (JP): With four matches left, Indonesia's men's team looked certain yesterday to qualify for the quarterfinals of the 10th Bridge Olympics on Rhodes Island in Greece despite losing points after a late protest from Argentina on Sunday.

The organizers reduced Indonesia's 21-9, 18th-round win over Argentina to 14-12 on the grounds that Indonesia spied on the Argentineans, Antara reported yesterday.

Indonesia would have taken the Group A lead after 30 games on Sunday, but the seven-point cut dropped its points to 583.5, 3.5 points behind defending champion France.

Until the 31th round yesterday, however, the reduction affected Indonesia's standing little as it remained second with 606 points, or still four points behind France.

The Argentinean protest, according to Indonesia's team manager Roy Triadji, came too late. But surprisingly the organizers accepted it and discussed it for more than one hour.

Triadji said he hoped the incident would not be used to discredit Indonesia as was the case in 1970s when the Manoppo brothers, who led the Indonesian team at the time, were accused of cheating.

Indonesia are fielding the veteran pairs Hengky Lasut/Eddy Manoppo and Danny Sakul/Franky Karwur and their juniors Giovani Watulinggas and Sance Panelewen in the Olympics.

They whipped Lithuania 20-10, Croatia 25-4, and the Philippines 23-7 on Sunday and were to take on Singapore, Australia, San Marino and Japan in the remaining four matches.

Three-time champion France, on the other hand, fell to Denmark 10-20, downed Lithuania 25-3 and thrashed Liechtenstein 23-7.

For Indonesia, a quarterfinal berth on Rhodes Island would mean a repeat of its feat in the 1984 Olympics in Seattle, U.S. when it won the group.

In Group B, in which 36 teams are competing, Italy assured itself of the top spot after routing Cyprus 25-5 and host Greece 26-6 despite its 10-20 loss to India Sunday.

Indonesia's women's team has lost any chance to make it to the quarterfinals as it stood 15th with 272 points after Sunday's matches. Only the top four teams go through to the quarterfinals.

Despite the poor standing, the Indonesian women surprised favorite teams by beating Sweden 20-16 and the Netherlands 20-14 yesterday after losing 11-19 to Group A leader China. (arf)