Ireland's hopes for success centred on one player as the finals of the pairs events got under way at the European open bridge championships in Menton yesterday.
Adam Mesbur, a member of Dublin's Regent club, playing with his Turkish partner, Melih Ozdil, had a steady third semi-final session to occupy 31st place, comfortably qualifying for the 52-pairs final.
Mesbur, for many years one of Ireland's top players, was a member of the team which earlier in the week reached the last eight of the teams championship.
He is among a small number of Irish players who have won medals at European level, having been a member of the bronze medal-winning team at the European teams championships in Lausanne in 1979.
There is a carry-over of scores into the final. The No 1 seeds, Meckstroth and Rodwell, US, led the qualifiers on 59.28 per cent. Mesbur and Ozdil were on 53.26. Barometer scoring is being used in the final in which all 52 pairs play two boards against each other over four separate sessions.
All tables play identical boards simultaneously so that results and the overall standings are known minutes after a round is completed. After the first of the final's four sessions Mesbur and Ozdil had improved to 26th place, with Meckstroth and Rodwell still leading.
The former European pairs finalists, Tom Hanlon, Rochfortbridge, and Hugh McGann, Fermoy, had a poor third semi-final set to drop to 58th of the 132 pairs.
There was even less joy for Irish women competitors. Cath Bearpark and Brid Kemple, Rose O'Farrell and Patsy Meehan, Bernie Lynch and Petra O'Neill all started the last session of the Swiss B with an outside chance of making the final.
However, all three pairs fell away. Lynch and O'Neill ended up the best placed of the Irish in 19th place out of 45 pairs. Hilary Dowling-Long and Anne-Marie Horan withdrew from the competition.
There have been large-scale defections from all of the events, a direct result of terrible playing conditions and poor organisation. In the open pairs championship, from an original 331 starting pairs only 222 are still playing. The proportion of drop-outs from the women's and seniors events is the same. The championships end today .