Date:14/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/14/stories/2008101459911900.htm

Sport - Bridge

Italy enters semifinals

R. Jayaram

Chennai: After dashing India’s hopes on Saturday in the round of sixteen with a 135-69 win in 56 boards, the Italians, who are bidding for a third consecutive Bridge Olympiad gold, beat giant killer Poland 210-173 in the 96-board quarterfinals in Beijing on Monday.

The other semifinalists in the open event are England which beat Romania 267-146, Germany which beat the Netherlands 217-196 and Bermuda Bowl winner Norway which beat host China 214-159.

Poland had earlier beaten a strong USA contingent 127-100 in the round of sixteen on Saturday.

Interestingly, three of the Italians in the current team — Lorenzo Lauria, Alfredo Versace and Giorgio Duboin —were members of the team which had won the gold in Maastricht in 2000 and five of them were in the team which won in Istanbul in 2004 (the above three, with Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes). The sixth player in the current team is Antonio Sementa, who recently replaced Duboin’s long-term partner Norberto Bochhi.

In the women’s event, holder Russia was knocked out by Turkey, by a margin of just five IMPs, in the quarterfinals. The other semifinalists are China, USA and England.

The semifinalists for the seniors’ event are USA, Egypt, Indonesia and Japan. The semifinals in all three categories will be 96-board affairs, spread over Tuesday and Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Poland won the under-28 event beating Norway in the finals. In the under-26 and under-21 finals, Denmark and France easily prevailed over Poland and England respectively.