European open bridge championships: Ireland, represented by John Carroll, Tommy Garvey, Tom Hanlon, Hugh McGann, Nick FitzGibbon and Adam Mesbur, is set to enter the knockout stages of the teams event at the European open-bridge championships in Tenerife.
Following their third round 25-1 victory over a Hungarian side in the Swiss B qualifier yesterday, they moved to 2nd of the 39 teams in the group. The Italian Palma team leads, two points in front.
In accordance with the Swiss format, the two top teams meet in the next round. In the preliminary rounds on Saturday, the Irish players put in a lacklustre performance to finish 6th of the eight teams in their group, from which four qualified for the Swiss A.
Whereas the leading 27 teams from the Swiss A will advance, only five from the B will go to the knockout rounds.
The Irish side, ranked fifth in the world at the Olympiad in Istanbul last October, was not the only fancied team to lose out in the opening rounds. In what turned out to be a virtual lottery, numerous world champions missed out in the preliminary contest including Americans Meckstroth and Rodwell; Chemla, France; Forrester, England; and Helness, Norway.
The array of talent in the Swiss B could be daunting for Ireland's top players but they are making light of the task. They beat a Norwegian team 20-10, then outscored Scotland 19-11 before crushing the Hungarians. The same Irish players failed to make the cut in Menton two years ago but later emerged from the Swiss B and narrowly failed to get into the medals.