47th European Teams Championship June 19 - July 3, 2004 takes place in Malmo Sweden. Organizers recently sent out a press release to welcome everyone "...to Malmö 2004. Players, officials, journalists, family members and other guests will find everything they need for a great Festival. This will simply be “the Championship” and “the Bridge Festival” for everyone. Make sure you put 19th June to 3rd July 2004 in your calendar now, because that’s when it all happens." Click Here to read press release and find links

19th Estoril International Festival (Portuguese Grand Prix) April 20th-22rd April (Teams) 23rd-26th (Pairs) Location: Casino Estoril (Estoril)
Chief TD: Rui Marques
Organization: Portuguese Bridge Federation
Email for contact: np93je@mail.telepac.pt
Website: www.lusobridge.com/estoril_english.htm
Phone: +351-213884844
Fax: +351-213832156
Prize Money: +- 20,000 euros

The III International Bridge Festival in Cuba has just finished and everyone who attended were delighted with the event and with the tourist experience in Cuba. Frankie Frontaura sends us the results page and a program for next year.

WORLD OLYMPIAD SET FOR TURKEY : For the first time in bridge history, Turkey will be host to a world championship next year. The World Bridge Olympiad will take place in Instanbul from Oct. 23 to Nov. 6. Read more here -

ACBL: 'Champions of Industry' - A camera crew for the Pat Summerall “Champions of Industry” program spent Friday at the New Orleans Fall NABC, recording 110 minutes of tape that will produce a two minute segment on the ACBL. The segment is expected to air on CNN Headline News in the spring, according to Linda Granell, ACBL director of marketing. And there’s a bonus — “a five minute segment we can use for potential sponsorship,” added Granell. The crew filmed a game, checked out a scoring table and took in book sales, a tournament directors’ meeting, hands and the Daily Bulletin office. They also interviewed Jay Baum, ACBL’s chief executive officer; Rick Beye, ACBL’s chief tournament director; Nick Nickell, world bridge champion and president and CEO of Kelso & Co.; well known North American bridge writer/educator Audrey Grant; Donna Compton, North American champion, and Barbara Seagram, owner of Kate Buckman Bridge Studio, one of North America’s largest, and a coinnovator of the Zero Tolerance program.

WORLD BRIDGE FEDERATION :: the WBF has launched a newly designed website.

WORLD BRIDGE CHAMPIONSHIPS
November 2-15 2003. USA SWEEPS THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS :: Click Here for more ::>

PHOTOS from the World Championships are posted on the SwanGames web stie ::>

2004 Junior Championships on OKbridge - 8th Annual: April 3rd and 4th, 2004 :: Start working on your team lineups, and online practicing.  Marcia West, Coordinator :: Fifth Chair Foundation - www.fifthchair.org

WBF NEWS

Junior Events : The 2005 World Junior Team Championships will be held in Sydney Australia.

Drug Testing : There was no drug testing in Monaco because France does not recognize bridge as a sport the the WBF could not use French labs for testing. The WBF has adopted a Medical Certificate (developed by the EBL) with regard to dispensation for the use of forbidden substances that must be submitted considerably prior to the start of competitions.

Senior News : The WBF voted to raise the age limit for Seniors events effective 2005 in annual increments of one year until age 60 is reached by the year 2009. Note the French Association has already approved an increase in the age limit to 58 and will increase it to 60 within two years.

Rona Receives IBPA Honor - Gianarrigo Rona, President of the European Bridge Leagueand architect of the first-ever European Open Bridge Championships, has been selected as the Personality of the Year by the International Bridge Press Association. Rona, 63, is also President of the Italian Bridge Federation. IBPA President Patrick Jourdain, in presenting the award, praised Rona and the EBL for conceiving of and conducting the first open European tournament, in Menton last June. Rona lives in Milan with his wife, Cippi. He is a retired fourth-generation attorney. In his youth, he was a fine basketball player and once was an official of the Italian federation for powerboat racing. As a bridge player, Rona is a WBF International Master. He was non-playing captain of the Italian Open team in 1984 and 1985. He has been President of the Italian Bridge Federation since 1986. Under his presidency, junior bridge in Italy is thriving. Rona has been EBL President since 1999. (from World Bridge Championships Bulletin 10, Brent Manley Editor)

2003 IBPA Annual Award Winners for Bidding, Defense, Play, and Junior bridge can be found here ::>

Newsy Bits from the IBPA November Bulletin

Forbo Interntional Teams : Successor planned. The first edition of the White House International Top Teams tournament will be held in Utrecht (near Amsterdam) at the premises of the Dutch Bridge Federation Feb 28-29, 2004. The formula will be in line with the successful Forbo format: 32 top international teams playing a round robin on Saturday and Finals on Sunday. See GBL Tournaments for more info ::>.

Omar Sharif has been given a one-month suspended prison sentence for hitting a police officer in a casino in suburban Paris in July. Sharif, 71, was also fined 4000 Euro for "violence toward a police officer," a spokesperson for the Pontoise criminal court said, declining further comment. Sharif had been arguing with a croupier at the casino, and he insulted and then head-butted a policeman who tried to intervene. This echoes an incident in  2000World Championships in Bermuda, where Sharif head-butted Paul Chemla after a disagreement. No Charges were laid as a result of that contretemps, however.

International Bridge Services, Eric Kokish and Beverly Kraft's company offers "Professional Potential Conversion". That is, coaching and writing services. They have coached medal-winning teams from The Netherlands, the USA, Indonesia, Canada, Brazil and many others.

End of News from the IBPA November Bulletin.

Champions Cup Stays in Italy (from eurobridge.com) ITALY's Tennis Club Parioli team had no difficulty winning the 2nd European Champions' Cup competition, held in Rome, 10-12 October 2003. The Italian team qualified to the semifinals together with Sweden's Herkules Club of Stockholm, De Lombard Club of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Club Plovdiv of Bulgaria. Sweden beat Bulgaria and advanced to the final where they met Italy, the other semifinal winner. This is the second time the European Champions' Cup competition has been held since its recent revival, and it is the second time that an Italian team wins the tournament. For more information on 2nd European Champions' Cup, click here :: For Bridge Base on-line Vugraph presentation of the semifinals and final, click here

ABTA Announces 2003 Awards
The American Bridge Teachers Association concluded its 46th annual convention at the Long Beach NABC, and at the awards banquet held on July 17, announced its annual award winners. Click Here for more ::>

Huge Data base of deals in French, English this September. François Colin has collected a database of more than 10,000 deals from the highest level of bridge, including all deals from the world championships from 1955 to the present. He has organized them into training material previously available only to the French national teams. The material is now available to the general public for a fee. Contact fcolin@ffbridge.net for further information.