MONTREAL, Aug 25: Team Munawar from Indonesia stormed into the Power Rosenblum Cup quarterfinals of the World Bridge Championships as Pakistani prepare for the pairs competition Sunday.

Highly talented Indonesians knocked out Canada’s last team Fergani, Saturday evening.

In other matches Kowalski from Poland had to come from behind in the last quarter to pip Johnson from USA, while Ziggy from Australia won the last set 33-5 against Attanasio from Italy to fall short by 4 IMPs.

The McConnell Cup has also reached the quarterfinals stage and the contest features four intriguing matches between outstanding teams, with the highlight being the repeat of the thrilling Venice Cup final in Paris when Germany had pipped France at the last moment.

Earlier, five-member Pakistan team made an unexpected exit from the Power Rosenblum Cup when it lost to Japan after having gained a huge 41 points lead Friday.

Playing their first Group J match of the knockout stage, Pakistan looked like advancing to the next round as they maintained lead in first three sessions but suddenly lost concentration.

They dropped 67 points in last 14 deals and lost to Japan by 26 points. Pakistan’s expected opponents in the next round were Italians who watched Team Allana’s game on T V and heaved a sigh of relief.

“Pakistanis would have given us tough time,” said one Italian player.

“It was our bad luck and nothing else, It was really difficult to believe that we would ever lose after maintaining commanding lead in first three of the four sessions”, said disappointed Pakistan players during their post match interviews.

We had qualified for the knockout stage after 12 years and the defeat in the last session was a nightmare, said Jan-e-Alam, a veteran Pakistani player. But winning or losing is part of the game.