KARACHI, Nov 8: Pakistan’s Allana continued to struggle in Bermuda Bowl world bridge championship as they suffered three more defeats and slumped to 19th spot in Monte Carlo (Monaco) on Saturday.
According to a message, Pakistan had so far accumulated 241 Victory Points (VPs) in 22-nation competition and are out of race for the knock-out stage.
They were placed 11th in the beginning, than slipped to 15th and 17th place and now relegated to as low as 19th spot.
Allana comprising Rehman Allana, Jan-e-Alam Fazli, Sultan Siddique, Rashid Jafer, Sarfraz Khan and Tehsin Gheewala performed much better when they defeated Bermuda 20-10 in the 15th round but then lost to Sweden 9-21.
USA-1 dominated 17th round match against Pakistan and they won 23-7 VPs. Pakistan lost another match in the 19th round against Spain 9-21.
Italy’s team comprising bridge ace Larenso Lauria, Versace, Nunes and Fantoni continued their winning form and after completion of 18th round out of 21 they are leading the bunch with 352 VPs.
When play resumed for fifth day, Italy defeated USA-2 17-13, New Zealand 25-5, winning draw against Chinese Taipei 15-15 and scored an overwhelming 25-3 victory over Indonesia.
USA-1 with the strongest combination Nick Nickell, Richard Freeman, Jeff Meckstroth, Eric Rodwell, Bob Hamman and Paul Soloway are second on points table with 338.5 VPs. In their last round matches, they piled up points by defeating Uruguay 20-10, South Africa 17-13, Pakistan 23-7 and Monaco 23-7.
Poland, Norway, Chinese Taipei, Canada, USA-2, Australia and Indonesia are other teams looking for a place in the semis.
Out of them USA-2 are losing grounds as they slipped from 7th to 12th position in last round. After losing to Italy 13-17, they played draw 15-15 with Brazil, lost to Australia 13-17 and Norway 6-24.
Poland and Norway have improved their positions at the crucial state. After a humiliating defeat by Pakistan, Norway send Brazil out of contention when they won 24-6, defeated China 17- 13, USA-224-6 and lost to India 12-18.
Poland, who were surprized by China 8-12 in the 15th round, however defeated Egypt 25-5, Uruguay 16-14 and South Africa 24-6 VPs.
After the conclusion of 18th round, Chinese Taipei with 292.5 VPs seems to be another possible qualifier. They defeated hopeful Canada 18-12 in 15th played draw against two good teams, Italy and Australia before going down to Bulgaria 10-20.
Pakistan’s senior at least brought some cheers to the lovers of the game in Pakistan, when the team comprising Rashidul Ghazi, Yousuf Talpur, Tariq Rasheed Khan, Hasan Jawad and Pervez Mirza registered a moral-boosting 25-2 win over Japan and later beating Egypt 17-13. They would play their final two matches on Saturday.
However, on points table, Pakistan Seniors are not in a commanding position. USA-1 was leading the Seniors’ section, but they faced more determined Italians team in 10th round to share 30 VPs equally and at the other table, France defeated USA-2 with the maximum VPs to improve on the points table.
Whichever team would finish at the top after 14th round would become eventual winner of the Senior Bowl.
Pakistan’s ladies team competing Venice Cup are not in a strong position either. They played three matches on Friday. First lost to USA’s strongest combination 25-2, then a won a draw with India 15-15 before losing to Brazil 19- 11.
USA-2 are leading the event with 255 VPs when they defeated Australia 24-6 and Egypt 21-9 playing draw with Sweden 15-15.
Position after the conclusion of fifth day.
Bermuda Bowl: (1) Italy 352, (2) USA-1 338.5, (3) Poland 312.5 (4) Norway 311, (5) Chinese Taipei 292.5 (6) Bulgaria 290 (7) Australia 289.5, (8) Canada 285 (9) Sweden 282 (10) China 280 (11) Indonesia 277.5 (12) USA-2 272.5 (13) Spain 259 (14) Egypt 257 (15) Monaco 255 (16) New Zealand 245 (17) Brazil 242 (18) India 241 (19) Pakistan 231 (20) Uruguay 229 (21) South Africa 196 (22) Bermuda 146.
Venice Cup: (1) USA-2 255 (2) China 254 (3) Netherlands 254 (4) USA-1252 (5) Chinese Taipei 226.5 (6) Canada 222 (7) Germany 212 (8) Sweden 216 (9) England 209 (10) Italy 204 Brazil 200, (11) India 197.5, (12) Indonesia 191,(13) Venezuela 190, (14) South Africa 181, (15) Australia 178, (16) Egypt 158.5 (17) Pakistan (143) VPs.
Seniors Bowl: (1) France 195 (2) USA-1 194 (3) Israel 182 (4) USA-2 176 (5) Indonesia 174 (6) Denmark 161.5 (7) Australia 161.5 (8) Italy 157 (9) Egypt 140.5 (10) Guadeloupe 139 (11) Japan 137 (12) Brazil/ Argentina 136.5 (13) Pakistan 132 (14) Monaco 98 and French Polynesia (43) VPs.—APP