USA1, Italy, Monaco, and Poland are the semi-finalists in Bermuda Bowl; they respectively beat Canada, China, England, and The Netherlands; then Poland eliminated the title holder. All the matches have been won by more than fifty imps (in ninety-six deals); only Canada-USA1 was still tie after four segments, +2 to USA1.
In Venice Cup was eliminated the title holder as well: China beat France 204-192. The other favourite, England, defeated USA1 203-138, but USA2 beat Poland 173-125. The finest match was between The Netherlands and Turkey; the former prevailed 166-131, but they already led fifty-eight after two segments; in the other sixty-four deals the partial was 86-63 for Turkey. The honour mention is for the Turkish women: Asli Acar, Vera Adut, Belis Atalay, Serap Kuranoglu, Ozlem Oymen, Dilek Yavas.
Also it must be said, about this battle, that it not only witnessed the courage of Turkey; also it said that The Netherlands, which was not a favourite, has the nerve to stand up until the very first deal. This, in my opinion, now elects them as favourite.
The Ernesto D’Orsi Senior Bowl qualified to semi-finals France (+160 over Netherlands), Usa2 (+149 over Scotland), Germany (just +6 against Indonesia), and Poland, which prevailed +58 against Belgium.
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Paolo Enrico Garrisi