THE open championship final at the World Bridge Team Olympiad in Rhodes has reached the halfway stage with the title holders, France, leading Indonesia by 173-112. The Indonesians suffered most of the damage over the first segment of 16 boards when they were still unsettled after their semi final against Denmark, which they won on the last board in extra time.
The US leads China 214-122 after 64 of the 96 boards in the women's championship final. China started well and led after the first two segments. The US then struck back to outplay the Chinese by 88-22 and 55-9 over the next two 16 board sets.
In the third place play off in the open championship, Denmark beat Chinese Taipei 84-71 in a match that was close all the way. In the women's third place play off, Canada had it easier against the defending champions, Austria, and won by 133-67.
The qualifying stages in the mixed teams championship have been completed. Ireland's team of Pat Walshe, Grainne Barton, Neil Kennedy, Anne Dillon and Niall Toibin finished strongly with a 21-9 win over a Dutch team. They finished 18th of the 86 participating teams. A British Iceland team captained by Heather Dhondy of Britain led the qualifiers. Feldman (USA). Nehmens (France) and Faivre (France) were next. In the semi finals, Dhondy will play Faivie and Feldman will meet Nehmens. An all French final is a possibility.