Two American teams have earned gold medals at the World Bridge Team Championships – USA 1 in the Venice Cup and USA 2 in the Senior Bowl.

USA 1 – Jill Levin, Irina Levitina, Jill Meyers, Hansa Narasimhan, Debbie Rosenberg, JoAnna Stansby, with Gail Greenberg as non-playing captain – dropped the opening set to Germany in the Venice Cup final, then won every set from then on, posting an impressive 242-158.6 win.

In the playoff for the Venice Cup bronze medal, China Global Times defeated France 132-80.3.

In the Senior Bowl, USA 2 had an even easier time as their Indonesian opponents withdrew after 80 deals, trailing 205-127. The Senior Bowl champions are Roger Bates, Grant Baze, Bart Bramley, Rose Meltzer, Alan Sontag and Lew Stansby. Kyle Larsen was the non-playing captain, Patty Magnus the coach.

USA 1 in the Bermuda Bowl can make it a sweep for America in the championships, but they face an unphill struggle against a tough team from Norway. With 32 deals to play today, the Norwegians are in the lead 242-184.5.

One other title will be decided today as the French-Italian-Swiss team captained by Pierre Zimmerman will play a further 32 boards against a Russian-Polish squad for the World Transnational Open Teams crown. After 16 deals, Zimmerman is ahead 61-27.