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Italians win World Mixed Pairs event

The Italian pair of Antonio Vivaldi and Enza Rossano continued from where they left off yesterday. Never releasing their foot off the pedal, the Italian match-point machine was on a roll. Havjng topped the qualification for the 260-pairs strong finals, they kept up the good work to finish with an impressive 64.07%.

At the half-way mark they were lying fourth, but the final session saw them cooly slip into top gear to breast the tape ahead of the hosts, the French pair of Claude Plouquit and Marc Bompis, by a nose. It sure was a close finish.

Well behind the top two pairs were the Danish husband-wife combo who were the favourites. Jens and Sabune Aukens took home the bronze medal.

The Frenchman, Paul Chemla, who has been a world champion, yet again figured in the merit list, finishing like Moses. The Lord told Moses to come forth. And he did. So did Chemla and his partner Catherine D'Ovidio. It was a clean sweep by Europe, they captured 10 of the top eleven spots. Spoiling the European party were the non-European (American) pair of Martha and Ralph Katz

Eight of the Indian pairs (out of 18) who qualified for the finals had a disappointing day. The best they could do was the 60th spot. That too only one half was Indian, Jaggy Shivdasani and his American partner C. Goldberg. They sure did'nt make Whoopie. The next best were Jeroo Mango and B. Parasrampuria finishing at a 112, followed by Bimal Sicka and Ratanlal Kejriwal at 130. Prof. Bomsi Wadia and Uma Singh and Bharati Dey and Sunil Macher finished at 165 and 198 respectively.

The top 5 Indian pairs finishing within 200 were all from Bombay. Dipak Poddar and Rita Choksi ended their outing at rank 213. Running neck and neck, but yet scraping the bottom of the barrel were Kiran Nadar and B.Satyanarain of Delhi and the Khandelwal couple from Nagpur, who finished 253 and 254 respectively.

They can take a microscopic consolation from the fact that the famous Mexican doctor, who gave the world the 'birth control' pill as well as the popularly used, honour showing redouble convention, Dr. George Rosenkranz and his wife finished right behind them.

The big 'uns - The Rosenblum Cup for the Open Teams and the McConnell Cup for the Women Teams commence today. Over 80 countries participating -- it's sure going to be exciting.

Dr Subir Roy is a member of the Indian team taking part in the World Bridge Championships in Lille, France.