Two losses place Indonesian team 11th at Bermuda Bowl tourney
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian bridge team got off to a shaky start at the Bermuda Bowl now underway in Paris, after conceding two defeats and scoring a victory in the first three sessions on Monday.
The Indonesian pairs of Henky Lasut/Eddy Manoppo and Santje Panelewen/Robert Tobing lost 8-22 in the opening session to Russia, which fielded Alexander Dubinin/Mikhail Krasnossesiski and Alexander Petrunin/Andrei Gromov.
Denny Sacul/Franky Karwur then came off the bench to replace Santje/Robert in the second round against Israelis Ofir Herbst/Ilan Herbst and Israel Yadlin/Doran Yadlin.
The tactic paid off, with the Indonesians winning 24-6.
However, the players did not appear to maintain their form as they were sent back to earth in the final session of the day. This time, India, which played Rajesh Dalal/Subhash Gupta and Honey Prabhakar/Kiran Nadar, inflicted on them a narrow defeat of 12-18.
The first three sessions gave Indonesia an overall 44 points for 11th place in the 18-strong tournament. Poland and the United States II tied on top, with 62 points, followed by Egypt, with 60 points.
Indonesia played Norway, Egypt and Hong Kong on Tuesday. The results would not be known until late at night.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian women's team, which comprises Lusje Bojoh, Elita Syofian, Riantini, Irne Korengkeng, Suci Amita Dewi, and Kristina Wahyu, has collected only 31 points from three matches to stay at 15th in the coinciding Venice Cup.
England, France and China were the top three on the provisional standings with 70 points, 64 points and 63 points respectively.
The championships were due to have taken place in Bali but were moved to Paris due to security concerns.
"Failure to host the most prestigious world bridge championship -- the Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup -- in the wake of the WTC (World Trade Center) tragedy in New York appears to have affected the Indonesian team on the first day," Jappy Kojongian said in a media release here on Tuesday.
The Bermuda Bowl features teams from 17 countries, divided into nine zones.
The countries are: defending champion the United States, which is fielding two teams, Canada, Mexico and Bermuda, (North America); Italy, Norway, Poland, Russia and Israel (Europe); Brazil and Argentina (South America); India, France, which replaced Pakistan, (Eastern Asia); Guadalupe (Central America), Japan, Hong Kong and Indonesia (Far-Eastern Asia), Australia, New Zealand (Pacific), and Egypt (Africa).
The participants are competing in round-robin preliminary matches for eight places in the quarterfinals, which will adopt a knock-out system through to the final.
The top four finishers in the preliminary round are, at their own choice, free to take on any opponent ranked fifth to eighth, with the top-ranked team given the opportunity to choose first.