Pair From Los Alamitos Win in World Bridge Championship

Bridge experts Pamela and John N. Wittes of Los Alamitos won the Mixed Pair World Championship Sunday night as 48 countries opened play in the 1986 World Championship here.

Leading scores were: 1--Mr. and Mrs. Wittes, .615; 2--Kerri Shuman, Los Angeles, and Bob Hamman, Dallas, .597; 3--Rozanne and Bill Pollack, New York, .595; 4--Kitty Bethe and Barry Rigal, Great Britain, .590; 5--Lisa and Dave Berkowitz, Secaucus, N.J., .589.

Other Southland experts in the top ranking were Beverly Rosenberg of Los Angeles and Stelios Touchtidis of Sherman Oaks, seventh with .585, and Rhoda Walsh of Los Angeles and Grant Baze of Atlanta, ninth with .578.

Pairs representing the United States took 14 of the first 20 places.

As play resumed Monday in a team championship scheduled to end next Sunday, Justin Hackett of Great Britain became the youngest player ever to compete in a world championship--but he had only a 10-minute edge on his twin brother Jason. Both turned 16 Aug. 14. The twins are playing on a team with their father, Paul Hackett, and Tony Sowter, leading British experts.