Italy took the Vivendi Rosenblum Cup for open teams at the World Bridge Championships in Lille yesterday. In the 64-board final their six-man team raced into an early lead against Brazil and went on to win easily. Sweden and the USA, the beaten semi-finalists, shared the bronze medals.
An American pair, Green berg and Moss, lead the Louis Vuitton women's pairs with four sessions to go. Lacroix and Poulain (France) are second.
The American pair of Freed and Passell lead from Martens and Szymanowski (Poland) in the Societe Generale open pairs. Ireland's Gay Keaveney and Rory Timlin ended their interest in the event yesterday, just failing to make the final cut of 90 pairs for the last five rounds. Including the players exempted into the later stages, more than 1,300 players started this competition, a record for any world championship event.
Keaveney and Timlin are highest-placed of the five Irish pairs taking part in the Cara Imps pairs contest, the final event of the championships. Also taking part are Patsy Meehan, Petra O'Neill, Gordon Lessels, Pat McCarthy, Tom Hanlon, Hugh McGann, Paul Hanratty and Seamus Dowling.
Aidan and Ena Cleary, from Limerick, started slowly in the final of the Elf senior pairs, but with three sessions remaining there is little between the 40 pairs taking part.
The championships conclude tomorrow.