Bridge season comes to an end
We have reached the end of our bridge season.
The pairs and teams competitions have all been played and the new calendar is already out for coming season which starts in October. Prize giving for the Union Club competitions will be held in October.
Bridge will be played at the Malta Union Club on a Thursday in summer. This is a very welcome innovation and as proved last year, it was very successful.
The Malta Bridge Club plays on its regular days through the year. They are also introducing Friday Bridge.
On the international scene, the EBL 54th European teams championship held in Belgium was a very exciting event. Russia and Israel were competing for 1st place for a few days and to everyone’s surprise, Norway jumped in at the last minute and won!
I watched many matches on viewgraph on Bridge Base On Line, fondly known and BBO, and I was following players I know, and countries I wished to see win!
Turkey won the Ladies pairs: these were Ferda Zolu and Nilgun Kotan. These championships are very important to the countries as they are a qualifying process for the World Championship, known as the Bermuda Bowl, which will take place in China this year.
The first eight teams in the Teams event, and in the Ladies event are:
Teams event: Norway, Israel, Russia, Sweden, Netherlands, Monaco, England and Denmark.
Ladies event: Poland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England, Netherlands, Scotland and France.
Interestingly enough, Bridge championships also include Seniors teams event. These will also qualify for the Bermuda Bowl Senior Championship. The winners were France. Sweden, Poland, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands and England were the other qualifiers. When we held these championships in Malta, Omar Sharif had played for France and won a gold medal.
The EBL is introducing a European Mixed teams championship in 2019. This will take place in Sanya in Portugal from the 22nd to the 28th of February. Maybe a team will go there from Malta. We look forward to October when the Sigma Cup, which will be the first competition at the Union Club, starts off the season.