With just three out of 21 rounds remaining in the round robin stage of the World bridge championships at Sao Paulo, the Indian Open and Seniors’ teams do not seem to have any chance of qualifying for the last eight.
Although Kiran Nadar’s Open team had creditable victories against defending champion and current leader Norway (21-9) and seventh-placed China (22-8), its defeats to Chinese Taipei (5-25) and 21st-placed Guadeloupe (13-17) shattered all hopes.
The Indian Senior team had one good victory against Poland (21-9) but fizzled out in most of the other matches.
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Norway stays on top
In the Bermuda Bowl, Norway continues to be at the top with a score of 334.25 VPs, notwithstanding the fact that its anchor pair during the 2007 Shanghai Bermuda Bowl which it won thanks to Geir Helgemo and Tor Helness are not in the team.
Norway is followed by Italy (333.25) and Bulgaria (321).
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The eighth position is jointly held by Argentina and Germany with 301 VPs; in seventh position is China at 303. Two out of these three are likely to get through to the last eight as the other teams are way behind.
Phenomenal scores
France (350) in the Venice Cup and England (346) in the Seniors’ event have recorded phenomenal (77%) scores. Because of these very high tallies, the eighth qualifying spot in both events are actually toss-ups.
While any one team from amongst Indonesia (284), Italy (283), Sweden (281) and Egypt (279) could go through in the Venice Cup, in the Seniors’ event, it could be any one from Indonesia (286.5), Canada (279), Japan (276) and Italy (275).