Irish players had a good day at the World Bridge Championships at Lille, France, yesterday. Richard King and Thomas MacCormac went up to fourth position after a good session in the Lipton Ice Tea Union, under 25, pairs. With two sessions remaining, they have a realistic chance of a medal. A Polish pair leads from Briton, Probst Teltscher, in second.
In the Elf Seniors, over 55, team championship, former Contract Bridge Association chairman, Paul Hanratty, heading a transnational team of Irish and Israeli players, had a good start to the competition and lies ninth of the 38 competing teams with one-third of the matches played.
In round 1, Hanratty lost to the German side 13-17, then went down by the same margin to a team led by the legendary Italian, Benito Garozzo. In round 3 they defeated a French Parisian team 23-7 and completed a good day by beating a Spanish quartet 19-11. Two days of qualifying rounds remain, after which the top four go into semi-finals. An Italian team leads.
Aidan and Ena Cleary, Gordon Lessels and Pat McCarthy contributed to Irish success with victories over Turkish and Canadian teams, 23-7 and 22-8 respectively in Zonal teams competition. They lost two matches to German and French teams.
The shock of the Vivendi Rosenblum open team championship was the failure of the favourites, the Christian Mari French team, to qualify. Cleary had held them to a narrow win in a qualifying match which the French had expected to win. The 32 remaining teams include seven from France and five from the US. Casualties included Chagas, Brazil, and Sundelin, Sweden.
The last 16 in the women's Louis Vuitton McConnell Cup include three teams from France and two each from Netherlands, Italy, Germany and USA. In the round of 32 Liz McGowan's British team went out. The championships continue until September 4th.