RI players out-trumped in Holland

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's top bridge pair, Henky Lasut and Eddy Manoppo failed to repeat last year's success at the Volmac World Top Tournament, held in The Hague from Jan. 16 to Jan. 19.

The pair came only seventh with 777 Victory Points (VP), a poor showing compared to the second place they achieved last year in the same tournament.

Marcelo Branco and Gabriel Chagas from Brazil won the tournament with 871 VP, Andrea Baratti/Massimo Lanzarotti from Italy came second with 870 VP and Krzyszstof Martens/Marek Szymonowski from Poland were third with 830 VP.

Both Lasut and Manoppo blamed the cold in the Netherlands for their bad performance in the tournament.

"The temperature in the Netherlands was very bad. It was very cold, 8 to 10 degrees Celsius below 0. This really affected their performance in the event," V. Pepeh, the only official assisting the bridge players, said in Manado yesterday as quoted by Antara.

The pair's only victories were in the 13th, 14th and 15th sessions when they defeated Patrick Huang/Fuo Kok Kuo (Taiwan) 62-38, Christian Mari/Marc Bompis (France) 64-36 and Alain Levy/Henry Szward (France) 62-36. (lnt)