RI makes clean sweep in Bermuda Bowl

RI makes clean sweep in Bermuda Bowl

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian men's team swept all three matches on Thursday to
move closer to shooting distance for a place in the quarterfinals
of the Bermuda Bowl at the ongoing World Bridge Championships in
Monte Carlo.

Indonesia hit Uruguay 21-9, nipped South Africa 17-13 and
pounded Pakistan 24-6 to collect an overall 219.5 points to move
up to eighth place with seven rounds remaining to be played.

The top eight of 22 participating teams will qualify for the
quarterfinals where they will play a knock out competition.

"A place in the quarterfinals is still far from safe because
the gap with the teams between ninth and 16th is narrow. However,
as long as they can maintain the play rhythm, the quarterfinals
slot is open to them," Bert Toar Polii, an official of the
Indonesian Bridge Association (Gabsi), said here in a report.

Indonesia's next opponents will be Monaco, Bulgaria, Canada
and Italy with the last potentially posing the toughest
opposition.

Italy, with 2002 world champions Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio
Nunes, has amassed 270 points, a distant 50.5 points ahead of
Indonesia.

USA1 and Canada follow with 259.5 points and 248 points
respectively.

In the Senior Bowl, there were mixed results for the
Indonesian team, which features two-time Olympic runners-up Henky
Lasut/Eddy Manoppo.

Indonesia crushed Polynesia 25-0 before stumbling to Israel
10-20 to suffer a place drop to fifth with 140 points. However,
the championship title is still open for the team with only 14
gaps separating them from the leader USA1.

The ladies team, which is competing in the Venice Cup,
continued to falter.

After a good run over Pakistan and Venezuela with a respective
20-10 and 19-11 points, Indonesia was brought to earth, totally
dominated in its 1-25 defeat to China.

Indonesia is now struggling in 15th place with 144 points.

With Italy, South Africa and Chinese Taipei being its next
opponents, Indonesia faces an unlikely chance of winning a
quarterfinals spot.

They will probably be looking to avoid the mediocre finish
they experienced in the previous two tournaments in which they
ended up in 15th and 16th in the final standings.

China led the standings with 204 points followed by 2000
champion Netherlands, USA2, USA1, two-time champion England and
Taipei.