Ireland is through to the last 16 of the open teams event at the European bridge championships.
Yesterday in Tenerife John Carroll, Tommy Garvey, Tom Hanlon, Hugh McGann, Nick FitzGibbon and Aam Mesbur comprehensively beat a strong Polish team in the first round of the knock-out stage.
Hanlon, McGann, FitzGibbon and Mesbur built up a lead of 27 international match points at halfway in the 28 board match. Carroll and Garvey then joined Hanlon and McGann to increase the margin, eventually winning 103-58. Earlier the Irish players had headed the Swiss B qualifying section in which they won all of their six matches.
In their fourth-round match they defeated an Italian team 19-11 to take the lead. They went further ahead when they beat a German side 20-10 in the penultimate game.
Then in the last match they beat a Russian quartet 16-14 over a flat set of boards from which it was difficult to extract big scores. The Irish comfortably qualified for the next stage of the competition.
In the round of 16 Ireland is drawn to meet a very strong side consisting of top Polish and Russian players. The Sazonov team consists of Balicki and Zmudzinski, regarded as Poland's best pair as well as Russia's top performers, Gromov and Dubinin. One of the strongest teams in the competition, they will be difficult opponents.
However, the Irish players, a transformed team from the one which struggled in the opening group matches on Saturday, are also regarded as formidable opponents. All three Irish pairs are taking turns at the table, each pair sitting out in succession, a sign of confidence among the players.
Ireland's seniors team, David Jackson, Greer McKenzie, Michael MacDonagh and Seán O'Lubaigh, with one round to go on their qualifying B group are out of contention for a place in the final stages. They lost all three of their matches yesterday. USA leads the group. Poland is in front in group A.
In the women's championship France leads group A and a combined USA and Russian side heads group B. England's Dhondy, Smith, Brunner and Goldenfield are in contention in group B, lying fifth with two rounds to go. Ireland is not represented in the women's team event. The championships continue until July 2nd.