RI ousted from bridge meet semis
RI ousted from bridge meet semis
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's struggle to elbow its way into the
semifinal of the Bermuda Bowl men's team world bridge
championship in Beijing ended in defeat on Sunday.
Indonesia was finally edged out of the competition 223-181 by
USA-2, after managing to take a 158-143 lead during the early
sessions. The same fate befell China, which was beaten 193-196 by
France, as well as defending champion the Netherlands, which fell
227-182 to Sweden.
"Actually, there was a good chance of winning but our second
pair was not able to cover our exhaustion," said Hengky Lasut,
one half of Indonesia's number one pair, with Eddy Manoppo. He
was referring to Danny Sacul and Franky Karwur, whom many regard
as the country's second strongest pair.
Hengky and Eddy are a veteran pair whom Indonesia relies on
heavily. In one match they were replaced by a more junior pair to
enable them take a rest, but the result was disappointing.
After that, non-playing captain Yasin Wijaya decided to field
them every day. That decision forced them to play seven hours a
day against their competitors, a task which finally wore them
out.
Before the third session on Saturday, Indonesia had taken a
158-143 lead over USA-1, which was spearheaded by Jeff Meckstroth
and Eric Rodwell. But in the last three sessions, the most senior
Indonesian pairs could no longer avoid burn-out and the law of
diminishing returns began to come into play.
In the fourth session, it suffered a 29-44 loss. A bigger
loss, of 14-30, followed. Finally, in the sixth and closing
session, Indonesia was down 9-50.
In yesterday's semifinals, USA-2 was to take on Canada, which
beat South Africa 276-190, while France was to challenge Sweden.
As for the Venice Cup women's team world bridge championship,
held simultaneously in Beijing, the four semifinalists are host
China, which beat Venezuela 243-83; USA-2, after a 274-216 win
over USA-1; France, which notched a 229-126 win over South
Africa; and Germany, which defeated Japan 229-194. (arf)