Three happenings highlighted the fourth day of the Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup round-robins:

1. Lynn Deas, in the hospital here almost from the moment she arrived, left her hospital bed and returned to the bridge wars in her wheelchair.

2. Omar Sharif, who always is drawn to wherever bridge is being played, joined the commentators in the vugraph room and kept the audience amused with his quips and observations.

3. The Tunisian team in the Bermuda Bowl competition scored their first victory of the tournament, and it was against tough opposition. They defeated Canada, 17-13. The Tunisian women forged a tie against first-place France in Venice Cup play. Tunisia actually outscored France, 35-34.

Bermuda Bowl

The American teams are running 1-2. Norway was in first place when they faced USA I in yesterday's second match, but the Americans overpowered the Norwegians, 24-6, and took over first place. USA I defeated Chinese Taipei in the evening to maintain their hold on the top spot. USA II started the day by losing a close one to Italy, 16-14, then came back with a 16-14 win over Venezuela.

In their last match of the day, they trounced Norway, 24-6, to take over second place, 5.6 Victory Points out of first. It was a bad day for Norway, but despite the two losses to American teams they held onto third place. However, they are far in arrears - 27 VPs behind USA I and only 2 VPs ahead of China and Australia, who are deadlocked for fourth place. France, Italy and Poland round out the top eight, and no other team is close to the leaders.

Venice Cup

France did not have a great day, losing to Italy, defeating Venezuela and tying Tunisia - but that was good enough to keep them in first place for the fourth straight day. France's closest competitor, USA II, also had a bad day, losing to both Canada and France. Did we say a bad day? Not really! Lynn Deas rejoined the team after a long hospital stay, and she led her team to a 25-5 blitz against Chinese Taipei. Despite being confined to a wheelchair, and despite her difficult hospital siege, she was able to settle in and play good bridge, helping her team to second place.

Netherlands had a fine day with blitzes against Germany and Brazil and a win over New Zealand. The 66 VPs for the day moved them into third place, ahead of USA I, which lost to Colombia and China after beating India. Rounding out the top eight are Canada, China, Great Britain and Italy. A major surprise - the defending champions from Germany are not among the leaders. At present they are ninth - but only 1 VP behind Italy.