Selectors’ Bulletin #130 – EBL QUALIFIER FOR THE NEXT WORLD TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIPS

As advertised earlier the EBL will arrange an online Qualifying event, on the RealBridge platform, for the “2021” WTC scheduled to be held in February / March 2022. It will start no earlier than August 23rd and end on August 28th.

The EBL have provided some very general information, mainly about the “safety protocol” that will be followed, but more detailed information will follow.

Duration
The number of playing days in each category (Open, Women, Seniors and Mixed) will be four (Aug. 25-28), five (Aug. 24-28) or six (Aug. 23-28), depending on the number of entries in each category.

In order for players and the EBL to be able plan ahead it will be much appreciated if you can advise the EBL as soon as possible if, and in which categories, we intend to send teams. The final deadline for registering a team on the designated website is July 12th.

Entry Fees
The entry fee will be €100 per team and playing day. To illustrate; if you participate in the Open and Women categories and the Open plays 6 while the Women play 4 days, you will pay a total of €1.000 for both teams.

Any Pairs interested in playing in these Events (ie: Open, Women, Mixed and Seniors) should contact the Selectors as soon as possible to express their interest. The Selectors can then provide additional information, as appropriate.

Selectors’ Bulletin #129 – Qualifier for the 2021 World National Team Championships



Following the WBF’s decision to stage the “2021” World National Teams Championships for the Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup, D’Orsi Bowl and Wuhan Cup at the end of February/early March 2022, the EBL needs to organise a qualification for the Zone 1 representatives in the various categories.

The EBL Executive Committee have decided as follows:
– The Zone 1 Qualification for the next WBF WNTC will be held online on the RealBridge platform.
– The dates will be August 23 to 28, 2021.
– The number of days for each Series (Open, Women, Senior and Mixed) will be between three and six, depending on the number of entries in each Series, but the last day will be August 28 for all.
– No one will play from home, or other private settings. Participating NBOs will gather its teams in clusters at a local venue set up according to EBL specifications, so as to prevent any communications between players.

Further information will follow, as it becomes available, but in the interim the Selectors would welcome any expressions of interest from players who may be interested in playing in these events.

Selectors’ Bulletin #128 – Cancellation of the 2021 World Championships

The WBF, taking account of the persistence of the Covid19 outbreak, has announced that the WBF Management Committee, in its meeting on Friday 7th May, unanimously decided to cancel the 2021 World Youth Teams Championship and World Teams Championship, both planned to be held in Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy.

Work is being undertaken with the aim of holding the World Teams Championship (Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup, d’Orsi Senior Trophy and Wuhan Trophy) in 2022 between the end of February and beginning of March.

However, the World Youth Teams Championship will be re-scheduled to 2023

In addition the Management Committee unanimously approved the following future dates:

· 2022 the World Bridge Series and the World Open Youth Championship

· 2023 the World Bridge Teams Championship and the World Youth Teams Championship

· 2024 The World Bridge Games and the World Open Youth Championship

More information will be on the WBF website as it becomes available.

Selectors’ BULLETIN #127 – Teltscher Trophy Results

The Teltscher Trophy – the ‘senior Camrose’ competition – took place this weekend, hosted by the England, via RealBridge. As hosts England entered two teams, an England team and an EBU team.

Ireland finished top of the table. The Ireland team was Peter Goodman & Terry Walsh, Ranald Milne & B J O’Brien, Micheal O’Briain & Padraig O’Briain, with NPC Derek O’Gorman.

The Wales team of Maggie Pierce & David MacAndrew, Alan Stephenson & Peter Kauffman and Paul Lamford & Paul Denning, with NPC Simon Paddy Murphy, finished in fifth place.

https://www.ebu.co.uk/documents/results-data/2021/lady-milne-teltscher-trophy/TT2021.htm

SELECTORS’ BULLETIN # 126 – Lady Milne Results

https://www.ebu.co.uk/documents/results-data/2021/lady-milne-teltscher-trophy/LMT2021.htm

The Lady Milne Trophy – the annual women’s home international series – took place this weekend, hosted by Northern Ireland, via RealBridge. Due to the event being held online, delayed kibitzing was available with commentary for all matches.

The Lady Milne Trophy was won by England. The Wales team of Ceri Pierce, Mieke Deschepper, Lee Collier, Margaret Lane, Gilly Clench and Aida Aris, with Tony Disley as NPC, were fourth.

SELECTORS’ Bulletin #125

http://www.eurobridge.org/2021/04/02/entc-madeira-2021-update-2/

The EBL is disappointed to announce that, due to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic and the situation not improving in so many countries, the European National Team Championships planned for June 2021 in Madeira have been cancelled.

With the co-operation of our very flexible and accommodating hosts, the Portuguese Bridge Federation, we hope to finally go to Madeira in June 2022, for the twice postponed National Team Championships.

In the meantime, should the WBF decide to go ahead with the World Teams Championships later this year, the EBL will organise an alternative method to determine the Zone 1 qualifiers. If such qualification will be held online, it is likely to be within the original Championship time period – 12 – 22 June.

The WBF has not yet made its final decision and may not do so before sometime in May.

In preparation, the EBL is finalising a detailed protocol for an online event which would include, amongst many other security features, players playing in a designated domestic location, set up according to very specific criteria, supervised by independent international observers.

2nd April 2021

Selectors’ Bulletin #124

http://www.eurobridge.org/2021/03/24/ebl-womens-teams-on-line-series/

In preparation for the possibility of an Online Teams Championship, the European Women’s Committee has organised a Tournament on the RealBridge platform on 24 & 25 April 2021.
Closing date for receipt of Entries – 10 April 2021.

REPORT #122 – Tonči Radelja Memorial BBO InterCity League

A group of Welsh players has been playing for a number of years in a twice-yearly BBO Intercity League (under the Aberystwyth name) that is played online on BBO on a Wednesday evening.

This league will be starting again early next month and entries are being requested by the organisers.

There is one 16 board round played every week, and it is always on Wednesday at 19.45hrs so planning is easy. The teams normally play 4 to 6 matches in a Round Robin before the leading teams move into a Knockout phase, with the final being played on Wednesday 2nd June.

We would encourage anybody that is interested to consider entering a team. The standard can be variable so you should not be daunted, it gives you an opportunity to play against some European opposition and it is fun!

There aren’t any limits to the number of players: each captain can line up as many players as he likes, but players that haven’t played the round robins shouldn’t be employed in the knock-out stage, unless the team couldn’t complete the foursome

If you have any further questions contact Turbin or Willemm (the BBO nicknames of Paolo Enrico Garrisi and Willem Mevius), or write to Garrisi at turbinazione@gmail.com.

To play, the Organisers need (as soon as possible):
The name of your team. It must be the name of a town, no matter how small and
the name of the captain (BBO’s and real name), and their email.

There are no entry fees, and no prizes apart from the fun of playing and the opponents’ esteem for your sportsmanship. So, give it a go!






Report #121 – Wales Junior Camrose and Peggy Bayer Teams

The Junior Camrose and Peggy Bayer Events for Juniors (aged under 26 and under 20 respectively) will take place over the weekend 19th – 21st February.

The events are being run by the Scottish Bridge Union (SBU) and will held online be using the Real Bridge platform.

The Welsh teams are:

Junior Camrose

Stephen Loat & Iwan Williams

Soozy Nesom & Mel Thomas

NPC Gilly Clench

Peggy Bayer

Sophie Akers & Steph Dux

Joseph Bentley & Alua Serikbayeva

Ash Rahman

NPC Lorrie Murphy

We send the team our best wishes.