International Bridge Team Wins, but Can’t Represent U.S.

A team of professional bridge players Sunday night won the Reisinger Teams Championship at the Anaheim Hilton Hotel, but it won’t represent the United States at the next world championships because two players aren’t Americans, tournament officials said.

The team of Zia Mahmoud of Pakistan, Jaggy Shivdasani of India, Ron Smith of Chicago, and Billy Cohen of Los Angeles were Sunday’s top finishers in the American Contract Bridge League’s 10-day North American Championships in Anaheim.

Sunday’s second-place team, comprised of Walter Johnson of Columbus, Ohio; Ralph Katz and Howard Weinstein of Chicago; and David Berkowitz, William Pollack and Mark Cohen of New York City, will vie against the three other qualifying teams in May at the U.S. trials in Memphis, Tenn., Beye said.

That match will determine the U.S. representatives to the September 1989 world championship in Perth, Australia.

Earlier in the tournament, Fred Stewart and his stepson, Steve Weinstein, both of Accord, N.Y., won the six-session Blue Ribbon Pair Championship with a score of 1,237.8 match points. Second, with 1,212.8, were Kerri Shuman of Monrovia and Robert Levin of Chicago.

Other Southland experts in the top ranking were Eugene Freed of Los Angeles, sixth with 1,148.9; Venkatrao Koneru of San Pedro, 13th with 1,112.3; Harrison Peterson and Mike Shuman, both of Los Angeles, 23rd with 1,070.1; and Mark Itabashi of Rancho Palos Verdes, 25th with 1,065.2.

George Rosenkranz of Mexico, Peter Weichsel of Encinitas, Robert Levin of Chicago and Eddie Wold and Ira Chorush, both of Houston, won the Men’s Teams.

Seattle area bridge teachers Shirley Edelson, Donna Bailey, Lynn Blumenthal and Janice Randles won the Women’s Teams. A team led by Randi Montin of Whittier and Pamela Wittes of Los Alamitos was second.

Jill Meyers of Santa Monica and Gaye Herrington of Redondo Beach won the Life Master Women’s Pairs; Bart Bramley of Chicago and Lou Bluhm of Atlanta won the life Master Men’s Pairs. Jim Robison of Los Angeles and Robert Radwin of West Covina led the Southland experts, finishing third in the Men’s Pairs.