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.