Ireland's open team made a good start in the World Bridge Teams Olympiad which began yesterday in Maastricht. A revised draw put them against Singapore in the first round, and Tom Hanlon, Hugh McGann, Rory Boland and Niall Toibin made no mistake, scoring the maximum 25 points in a onesided match.
In round two Gay Keaveney and Rory Timlin joined Hanlon and McGann against Tunisia to score another good win by 18 to 12.
Ireland, with 43 points, now stand fifth in the group, which is headed by Switzerland on 47, Poland on 46, and Austria and Brazil, both on 44.
England, making their first appearance in world championships, had two maximum scores against Mexico and Latvia to lead Group C. Iceland also scored 50 in Group B.
Additional late entries in the women's championship have increased the field to 40, split into two groups of 20. Ireland's women's team could not have had a more difficult start. In round 1 Helen Carroll, Jill Kulchycky, Pat MacMahon and Pat Ryan lost 8-22 to former European champions Sweden. In round 2 Helen Holman and Carol McCarthy joined Carroll and Kulchycky to lose 12-18 to Denmark. Ireland's opponents in round 3 will be Austria, who lead the group on 50 points from Sweden on 46 and Denmark on 41.
Ireland's seniors team, after losing 13-17 to Finland in round 1 one, had a spectacular success in round 2 two when John O'Keeffe, Greer McKenzie, Jo MacHale and Alex Montwill combined to beat championship favourites USA 18-12.
In round 3 they went down to Sweden 11-19. After three rounds, the Swedes lead the seniors championship on 62 points, from Scotland on 60.
University College Cork, representing Ireland in the universities championship, had a nightmare beginning, losing 0-25 to Italy and 1-25 to Hong Kong. They rallied in round 3 when Neville Pierce, Paul Cotter, Cynthia Heffron and James Greenham beat Belgium 16-14.
In the next round the open team will meet Wales, whom they beat in Belfast earlier this year to win the home countries championship. They will meet Switzerland in round 4. The championships continue until September 9th.