The scene was set for a classic battle between Italy and Norway, who had stormed back from a big deficit to within 14 IMPs of their opponents. The winner would advance to the Bermuda Bowl final, and the VuGraph auditorium was packed with spectators keen to see a close contest.

It was not to be, as a dull set of boards provided Norway with little ammunition to overcome their rivals. As one wag on OKbridge noted, in a reference to the late master of suspense, “Alfred Hitchcock did not deal these boards.”
It didn’t hurt the Italian cause that Norberto Bocchi and Giorgio Duboin in the closed room had a near-flawless card, with only a couple of minus scores, while Alfredo Versace and Lorenzo Lauria made few errors themselves. The final score for the sixth set was 31-9.

Italy won 223-187.7 and got revenge for their semi-final loss to Norway two years ago. The winners advanced to the final against USA I, who rode a 67-5 fourth set to an easy win over USA II. USA I will start with a 13-IMP carryover in the final.

Neither match in the Venice Cup semi-final round was close, as China won five out of six sets to advance with a 279-202 triumph over the Netherlands. In the gold medal round, China will USA I, winners over USA II by the score of 251.5 to 179. In the final, the Americans will have a 5.3-IMP carryover.

In the World Transnational Open Teams, the Jan Jansma team from the Netherlands extended their lead with three matches to play in the round-robin. Jansma has 240 Victory Points to 231 for the second-place team from the USA, captained by Malcolm Brachman. The Henky Lasut squad from Indonesia is in third.

The top eight teams in the round-robin will begin quarterfinal play tomorrow night.