FRANCE, the defending champions, and Indonesia have won through to the final of the open championship at the World Bridge Olympiad in Rhodes. The USA and China will meet in the women's final.
France, in front halfway through their semi final meeting with Chinese Taipei, lost heavily over the next 32 boards to go 21 points behind with 16 to go. However, they won the last segment 63-23 to win 209-190.
The Indonesia v Denmark semi final ended dramatically.
The Indonesians led narrowly through five of the six 16 board segments. Then, in the last set, Denmark rallied to tie the match. Eight extra boards were played.
In this additional segment she Danes led to the very last hand of cards when they bit a clam which did not succeed, thus allowing their Far Eastern opponents to go through to the final.
The USA v Austria women's semi final was also close. The Austrians led early, then the Americans came back, went in front and held on to win 264-223.
The China v Canada match was a one sided affair. The Canadians conceded the match with one 16 board segment remaining. The score at that stage was China 316, Canada 106.
The open final will be over two days and 128 boards. The women's final will be over 64 boards.
Meanwhile, the Irish challenge in the mixed teams championship has faded. Pat Walshe, Grainne Barton, Neil Kennedy, Anne Dillon and Niall Toibin have slipped to 38 of the 86 participating teams after winning two and losing two of their last four matches.