Kantar Foursome Takes 1st Place in Bridge Tournament

Bridge legend Eddie Kantar led his foursome to a come-from-behind win over Pakistan’s Zia Mahmood in the final of the Vanderbilt Cup competition in the 1988 Spring North American Bridge Championships on Sunday.

Kantar won 135-110 in the last of four quarters of 16 hands each. He gained the lead on the first hand of the last quarter, handing Mahmood a large penalty.

Kantar’s winning team included Alan Sontag, John Mohan and Roger Bates, all of New York City.

Mahmood played with David Berkowitz of New York, Ron Smith of Chicago and Billy Cohen of Palos Verdes.

In other action Sunday, the University of Illinois, which led from start to finish, beat Harvard, 131-103 for the North American Collegiate Bridge Championship Trophy.

The difference was Illinois’ carryover from the preliminary round-robin, 25 International Match Points. Illinois had outscored Harvard by that much in topping the six-team final, which also included Texas, UCLA, Virginia and MIT.

The four-man Illinois lineup consisted of Justin Graver of Lincoln, Neb.; Dennis Carney of Longmont, Colo.; and Brian Blackmore and Michael Steigmann, both of Urbana, Ill. The Harvard quartet comprised James Colen of Philadelphia, Mike Mitzenmacher of Palos Verdes Estates, Bill Cole of New York and Scott Roy of Northbrook, Ill.

Illinois succeeds New York University as the collegiate champion. NYU failed to make this year’s final six teams.

Earlier in the tournament Jan and Chip Martel of Davis, Calif., won the Grand National Pair Championship. Arthur Hoffman of Maplewood, N.J., and Stephen Shane of White Plains, N.Y., won the Men’s Pairs; Sally Wheeler and Georgiana Gates, both of Houston, won the Women’s Pairs; and Michael Becker of Tenafly, N.J., and Ron Rubin of New York won the North American Open Pairs.