Favourites US won the world seniors' teams title with a score of 435.25 VP out of 575 in the 23-session round-robin event completed on Friday, the sixth day of the World Teams Bridge Olympiad being played at Maastricht. The US team comprised three former world champions, Bobby Wolff, Kit Woolsey and Steve Robinson, along with Dan Morse, John Mohan and John Sutherlin. Doing duty for runners-up France with 414 were Pierre Adad, Maurice Aujalec, Claude Delmouly, Jean-Marc Roudinesco, Francois Leenhardt and 1996 world champion Christian Mari. The bronze went to Sweden (Hand-Olaf Hallen, Hans Goethe, Anders Morath, Stuve Ekberg, Lars Backstrom and Lars Alfredson) with 412.25. Omar Sharif's Egyptian squad ended joint ninth. Meanwhile, Indian hopes evaporated as the Open team crashed to a 5-25 defeat against Germany. The day had augured well with 22-8 and 25-0 wins over Venezuela and Malta. However, the other contenders India had hoped to catch up with also secured high scores making the situation desperate. In a gambling move, they benched Subhash-Rajesh, their steadiest pair and the most experienced, in the crucial encounter with Germany but it backfired, leaving India eighth, 28 behind fourth-placed France. With two matches to go before the cut, it is a close fight in group A between five teams. In group B, the US, the Netherlands and Russia seem assured of knockout berths with Hungary and Australia in strong contention for the other. The situation in group D is similar, with Italy, Argentina and Norway practically through and New Zealand and Iceland fighting for one spot. The group C qualifying berths seem to have been locked up by England, Sweden, Indonesia and France unless Japan or Israel can come up with some magic. In the Women's section, India suffered two blitzes again before defeating the strong Netherlands 16-14. In group A, the qualifiers are more-or-less identified, but in the other ninth-placed Greece still has a chance. >Standings in brief OPEN (max 375 VP from 15 matches, two to go): Group A: 1. Poland 294; 2. Belgium 287; 3. Austria 285.5; 4. Denmark 274.5; 5. Brazil 273; 6. Ireland 262.5. Group B: 1. US 304; 2. Netherlands 285; 3. Russia 275; 4. Hungary 263; 5. Australia 262; 6. Greece 253. Group C: 1. England 314; 2. Sweden 288; 3. Indonesia 284.5; 4. France 279; 5. Japan 266; 6. Israel 265; 8. India 251. Group D:1. Italy 313; 2/3. Argentina & Norway 285; 4. New Zealand 272; 5. Iceland 269; 6/7. China & South Africa 254. WOMEN's (max 425 VP from 17 matches, 2 to go): Group A: 1. Norway 325; 2. Austria 323; 3. US 309.6; 4. Chinese Taipei 306.25; 5. England 304; 6. Israel 280.5; 7. Finland 276; 8. Japan 275. Group B: 1/2. France & Germany 328; 3. Canada 314; 4. Netherlands 298; 5. Poland 297; 6. China 290; 7. Scotland 278; 8. South Africa 273; 9. Greece 268. UNIVERSITY (max 500 VP from 20 matches, 1 to go): 1. Austria 414; 2. Italy 405; 3. Denmark 368; 4. South Africa 361.