January 27: Indonesia and Sweden continued to hold sway, as the Tolani World Invitation Pairs bridge tournament approached the final stretch. Indonesian pair Hengky Lasut and Eddy Manoppo led the 32-team field with 585 victory points (VPs) after 21 rounds of play, followed closely by Swedish pair Magnus Lindkvist and Peter Fredien on 576, on the penultimate day at The Retreat today.With the third-placed Chinese 32 VPs behind, Indonesia and Sweden are best bets for the top two prizes of Rs 4.5 lakh and Rs 2.75 lakh respectively.
Indian pairs continued to languish, the best showing coming from Dr Mukund Jagannathan and R Agarwal, placed eleventh with 448 VPs. Vijay Phatarphekar and Avinash Gokhale retained their overnight 13th place, while fancied pair Anand Mehta and Anil Padhye climbed nine rungs to 19th.
One of the novelties is a view graph installed by the Mumbai Sports and Bridge Association, where major hands are flashed and explained.
Leading pairs (after 21 rounds):
Hengly Lasut & EddyManoppo (Ina) 585; Magnus Lindkvist & Peter Fredien (Swed) 576; Cao Xueliang & Yang Lixin (Chin) 544; Cezary Balicki & Adam Zmudzinski (Pol) 538; Shi Haojun & Dai Jianming (Chin) 508; Marek Szymanowski & Krzystof Martens (Pol) 500; PG Eliasson & Tomas Magnusson (Swed) 496; Tadashi Imakura & Kenji Miyakuni (Jap) 464; John Carruthers (Can) & John Mohan (US) 462; Dr Mukund Jagannathan & R Agarwal (Ind) 448; Justin & Jason Hackett (Eng) 442; V Phatarphekar & A Gokhale (Ind) 433; KV Krishnamurthy & SK Iyengar (Ind) 431.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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