The Hindu : Sport / Bridge : American teams way ahead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 03, 2007
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Sport - Bridge

American teams way ahead

R. Jayaram

Chennai: After scoring a modest 51 Victory Points (VPs) in the first three rounds, USA-1 women’s team looks unstoppable.

The side comprising Hansa Narasimhan, Jill Levin, Irina Levitina, Jill Meyers, Debbie Rosenberg and Joanna Stansby amassed 138 out of a possible 150 in the next six rounds to take its tally to 189 VPs after nine rounds in the Venice Cup of the World bridge championship in Shanghai.

Denmark is in the second position, a good 30 VPs behind. Without doubt, the match of the day was between the women’s teams of USA-2 and France (the Venice Cup title holder) in the ninth round, in which the latter won 25-0, thus enabling it to come within the top eight.

Maintaining form

In Bermuda Bowl, the USA-1 team spearheaded by the Zia Mahmood and Michael Rosenberg continued to be at the top of the table with 181 VPs, 15 VPs ahead of second-placed Poland.

The USA-2 team, consisting of five world champions, slightly improved its position from 16th to 14th, but still has a long way to go to be in the last eight.

The senior Italians are trying to emulate their younger countrymen — Italy is the holder of the Bermuda Bowl — by clocking 181 VPs in the Seniors Bowl and topping the field. They are followed by Canada (175).

The Indian women’s team seems to have missed a golden opportunity to reach the quarterfinals of the Venice Cup. Lying in the seventh position on Monday, it had three relatively “easier” matches on Tuesday but lost all three by narrow margins and could muster only 34 VPs, leaving it with a total of 132 VPs and at the 12th position. The Indian seniors have only a faint chance of winning a quarterfinal berth.

Top eight after nine rounds: Bermuda Bowl: USA-1 (181), Poland (166), Norway (161), Italy (158), Australia (151), Netherlands (148.5), China SMEG (148), Brazil (147). Venice Cup: USA-1 (189), Denmark (159), USA-2 (155), Germany (155), China Global Times (152), Australia (149), France (148), England (148). Seniors Bowl: Italy (181), Canada (175), USA-1 (164), Indonesia (159), Egypt (156), Australia (154), USA-2 (153), Poland 150.