Table of Contents Page Russia Steppes Up for Gold 1 Italy v Netherlads - Final Session 1 2 USA v Russia - Italy vNetherlands Final Session 2 3 Italy v Netherlands - Final Session 3 4
Happy winners: Russia celebrates a Gold Medal in the World Bridge Olympiad

A tough, aggressive team of unheralded players from Russia are the gold medallists in the Women’s series of the World Bridge Olympiad, fending off a final-set rally by an experienced team from the USA. The final score was 271-259.

The two finalists met on the stage in the Vugraph auditorium, exchanging tearful embraces after the long, hard-fought match. At one point early in the final, Russia trailed by 47 IMPs.

The winners are Olga Galaktinova, Victoria Gromova, Natalia Karpenko, Maria Lebedeva, Tatiana Ponomareva and Irina Vasilkova. Pavel Vorobei was non-playing captain.

The women’s medal was not the first for the Russians in world championship play. Earlier in the tournament, the Russian Open team earned the bronze medal.

The victory by the Russian women was all the more impressive when you consider that on the way to the title, they defeated the Netherlands, essentially the same team that won the Venice Cup in 2000; Germany, mostly the same 2001 Venice Cup champions, and the USA, 2003 Venice Cup winners.

In the Open series, which has two matches to play today, Italy held a lead of 77 IMPs against the Netherlands, a young team who have fought valiantly but have not been able to match the experience of the defending champions.

Yesterday’s play also featured the semi-final round of the World Transnational Mixed Teams. Over 32 boards, Auken (France/Germany) defeated Allix (France) while Batov (Bulgaria) knocked off Zhang (China). After the first of three sets of the final, Auken led Batov 68-28.