1st Asian University Bridge Championship – Day 2

University Negeri Manado (Unima), the Champion of the 11th Indonesian National University Championships 2009, did very well at the first day of the event. Their performance was excellent at the first three sessions of the 14-sessions schedule. At the first session they beat one of the pre-tournament favorites, University Sam Ratulangi, convincingly 23-7 VP. NPC, Hanny O Gosal did not change his line up for the second session. Rolando Sumanti – Swiki Limpele and Ricci Sompotan – Arkie Gosal well not replaces.

It turned out to be a correct decision since they beat the strong National Taiwan University Team by 21 – 9 VP. At third session this team that had been coached by Bert Toar Polii and Donald Gustaaf Tuerah, replaced Ricci Sompotan – Arkie Gosal with Mick Carter Kandouw – Maria E Mondorongin. Their score was 15-15 VP against Indonesia ITB. Although they were penalized 3.5 VP for slow play, they managed to get 55.5 VP leading the pack.

In second place is China Wuhan University who collected 51.5 VP by beating Thailand King Mongkut’s University of Technology by 18-12 VP, National Taiwan University Team B 23-7 VP, but losing to Singapore University 11-19 VP. In third place National Taiwan University A, who won 23-7 VP against Singapore University, 21-9 VP against National Taiwan University Team B and 9-21 VP against Unima.

The format of the contest is a double round robin which means that the teams will compete twice against each other. The tournament venue is The Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel, Sanur Bali from November 24th to 30th and is contested by 8 teams from 5 countries or regions: Indonesia with 3 teams, Unima, Unsrat and ITB, Chinese Taipei with 2 teams and Singapore, China and Thailand with one team each.

Although there are not so many countries or regions taking part, the achievements of the participating countries or regions are awesome. China was Champion at the World University Bridge Championships in 2006, Thailand reached 4th place at the 2001 World Youth Team Championships and Singapore and obtained the bronze medal at the 2006 World Youth Bridge Championship.