Singapore’s bridge team play their cards right to clinch silver at world youth c’ships

SINGAPORE – After their 18-2 loss to hosts the Netherlands in the preliminary round of the World Youth Bridge Teams Championships in Veldhoven, Teo Xue Heng and his teammates were mentally preparing themselves for a three-day holiday in the country.

With two matches left, they were ranked 12th of 24 teams and knew they had a mountain to climb in order to qualify for the quarter-finals.

But the Singaporeans, competing in the Under-26 category, refused to give up and played their cards just right. They ended up beating Turkey and China, denying the latter – who finished ninth overall – by 0.25 point and securing themselves a place in the knockout rounds.

The sextet of Teo, 26, Timothy Wu, 24, Linus Lee, 23, Bryan Yang, 23, Gao Heng, 23 and Xu Nuoyi, 16, then eliminated the United States, who topped the preliminary stage, in the last-eight clash by a score of 125-92 before beating Poland 119-102 in the semi-finals.

Their fairy-tale run was ended by the Dutch, who triumphed 157-88 to capture the gold. But Singapore’s silver medal – which matched their best effort from 2018 – was a reminder of an important lesson.

Teo said: “Not giving up until the last board of the competition... Our aim was to finish on the podium, so I’m happy we managed to achieve that. To think that we barely managed to squeeze into the last quarter-final berth by a fraction of a victory point just made the silver medal even sweeter.

“It gives us a big morale boost knowing that we can stand up against the best in the world and be competitive even against opponents who we feel are stronger or have more experience than us.”

The team’s coach Ang Shen Ting, who is also the Singapore Contract Bridge Association’s competition secretary, noted the home side’s strengths, highlighting that the Netherlands “has the most bridge players per capita”.

Ang, 35, added: “The Dutch team also enjoy a large support network of non-playing captains and coaches. For the finals, their families came down to support them as well. Given the above, our guys have done very well to achieve this result.”

A silver medal bodes well with Teo, Wu, Lee and Yang joining up with compatriots Zhang Yukun and Lam Cheng Yen to compete at the Sept 23-Oct 8 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. The team will be coached by Shi Haojun.

Zhang is the only surviving member of the group who won the men’s team gold at the 2018 Asiad in Jakarta.

The much-changed squad may lack experience, said Teo, but he vowed a strong showing. He added: “Being able to bridge the gap in experience to the best in the world is very reassuring to us. We are determined to give (the Asian Games) our best shot and, hopefully, hit our target of getting a position on the podium.”