Beijing - Seniors Team Draw

There are 33 teams entered in the Seniors Series of the World Minds Sports Bridge Championships in Beijing, China, divided into two groups of 16 or 17 teams. Each group will play a complete round robin. At the conclusion of the round robin, the top eight teams in each group will advance to the knockout stage, in which the leading teams will have a choice of opponents in the round of 16. The draw is out, and England are in group K. Their order of play (UK time, 7 hours behind Beijing) is as follows:

Round 1	Sat	04	Oct	04:00	China Hong Kong
Round 2	Sat	04	Oct	07:20	Japan
Round 3	Sat	04	Oct	10:10	USA
Round 4	Sun	05	Oct	04:00	Hungary
Round 5	Sun	05	Oct	07:20	Chinese Taipei
Round 6	Sun	05	Oct	10:10	Brazil
Round 7	Mon	06	Oct	04:00	Bye
Round 8	Mon	06	Oct	07:20	France
Round 9	Mon	06	Oct	10:20	New Zealand
Round 10	Tue	07	Oct	04:00	South Africa
Round 11	Tue	07	Oct	07:20	Pakistan
Round 12	Tue	07	Oct	10:10	Thailand
Round 13	Wed	08	Oct	04:00	Wales
Round 14	Wed	08	Oct	07:20	Denmark
Round 15	Fri	10	Oct	04:00	Estonia
Round 16	Fri	10	Oct	07:20	Kenya
Round 17	Fri	10	Oct	10:10	Sweden

Beijing - Under 21's World Championship Draw

There are 18 teams qualified for the Under 21's World Championships in Beijing, China. The teams will play a complete round robin. At the conclusion of the round robin, the top eight teams will advance to the knockout stage, on which the leading teams will have a choice of opponents in the Quarter-Final. The draw is out. The order of play (UK time, 7 hours behind Beijing) is as follows:

Round 1	Sat	04	Oct	04:00	France
Round 2	Sat	04	Oct	07:20	Ecuador
Round 3	Sat	04	Oct	10:10	USA
Round 4	Sun	05	Oct	04:00	Botswana
Round 5	Sun	05	Oct	07:20	Norway
Round 6	Sun	05	Oct	10:10	Bulgaria
Round 7	Mon	06	Oct	04:00	Pakistan
Round 8	Mon	06	Oct	07:20	Indonesia
Round 9	Mon	06	Oct	10:20	China
Round 10	Tue	07	Oct	04:00	Uruguay
Round 11	Tue	07	Oct	07:20	Chinese Taipei
Round 12	Tue	07	Oct	10:10	Canada
Round 13	Wed	08	Oct	04:00	Netherlands
Round 14	Wed	08	Oct	07:20	Poland
Round 15	Fri	10	Oct	04:00	Argentina
Round 16	Fri	10	Oct	07:20	Australia
Round 17	Fri	10	Oct	10:10	Singapore

Beijing - Under 28's Schedule of play

There is no draw for Under 28 teams as the event is being run on a Swiss basis. There will be 17 rounds of Swiss teams, at the end of which the leading 8 teams will advance to the knockout stage, in which the leading teams will have a choice of opponents in the Quarter-final. The playing schedule follows that of the other events, in other words (UK time, 7 hours behind Beijing):

Round 1	Sat	04	Oct	04:00
Round 2	Sat	04	Oct	07:20
Round 3	Sat	04	ct	10:10
Round 4	Sun	05	Oct	04:00
Round 5	Sun	05	Oct	07:20
Round 6	Sun	05	Oct	10:10
Round 7	Mon	06	Oct	04:00
Round 8	Mon	06	Oct	07:20
Round 9	Mon	06	Oct	10:20
Round 10	Tue	07	Oct	04:00
Round 11	Tue	07	Oct	07:20
Round 12	Tue	07	Oct	10:10
Round 13	Wed	08	Oct	04:00
Round 14	Wed	08	Oct	07:20
Round 15	Fri	10	Oct	04:00
Round 16	Fri	10	Oct	07:20
Round 17	Fri	10	Oct	10:10

The teams for Beijing

With the Olympic games approaching their closing ceremony, we can look forward to World Mind Sports Games (formerly known as the World Teams Olympiad) which are also being held at the Olympic Complex in Beijing.
The Open team was announced last week, following a four day Trial at the Brighton Congress. That completes the selection process. All five teams that are going have now been announced. They are:-

Open Team
Nick Sandqvist & Artur Malinowski
Jason Hackett & Justin Hackett
David Gold & Tom Townsend
Captain : Phil King
Coach: Simon Cope

Womens Team
Heather Dhondy & Nevena Senior
Catherine Draper & Anne Rosen
Nicola Smith & Sally Brock
Captain: Martin Jones
Coach: Sandra Penfold

Seniors Team
Chris Dixon & Victor Silverstone
Colin Simpson & David Price
Ross Harper & Andrew Thompson
Captain: Peter Czerniewski

Under-28s
Fiona Brown & Susan Stockdale
Ollie Burgess & Andrew Woodcock
Ben Green & Duncan Happer
Reserves: Mike Bell & Michael Byrne
Captain: David Greenwood
Coach: Diane Greenwood

Under-21s (playing in the Under 21's World Championship)
Adam Hickman & Daniel McIntosh
Ed Jones & Tom Paske
Ben Paske & Rob Myers
Captain: Michael Byrne
Coach: Alan Shillitoe

Sandqvist hold a big lead

After 60 boards of the 100 board final trial to pick the England team to go to the World Mind Sports in Beijing, the Sandqvist team lead the Townsend team by 178 imps to 71 imps. The final 40 boards will be played today. At the end the winning team will automatically be picked for Beijing, and a third pair will be picked by the Selection Committee from amongst all the remaining pairs that competed. Full scores here.
The Final is being shown on Bridgebase online. You can download Bridge Base Online from their website http://online.bridgebase.com or view it without downloading anything, from the BBOTV website http://www.bbotv.com/vugraph/

It's Townsend v Sandqvist in the Final of World Minds Sports trial

At the end of the round robin stage of the four team trial to pick the England team to go to the World Mind Sports in Beijing, the Townsend team were first with 51 Vps, and the Sandqvist team were second with 46 Vps. These two teams therefore qualify for the final stage which begins today. They will play a 100 board match. At the end of it the winning team will automatically be picked for Beijing, and a third pair will be picked by the Selection Committee from amongst all the remaining pairs that competed. Full scores here.
The Final will be shown on Bridgebase online. You can download Bridge Base Online from their website http://online.bridgebase.com or view it without downloading anything, from the BBOTV website http://www.bbotv.com/vugraph/

Open team Trials for Beijing

The Trails for the Open team that will represent England in the 2008 World Mind Sport Games (formerly known as the Olympiad) begin today.

Four teams will play a double round robin of 20 board matches On Mon 11 and Tue 12 Aug. At the end of that the top two teams will play a 100 board final on Wed 13 and Thu 14 Aug. The winning team will be selected, along with a third pair which will be chosen by the Selection Committee.

The Four teams are
HACKETT: Paul Hackett, John Holland, Tony Waterlow, Ian Panto
TOWNSEND: Tom Townsend, David Gold, Andrew McIntosh, Gunnar Hallberg
SANDQVIST: Nick Sandqvist, Artur Malinowski, Justin Hackett, Jason Hackett
LIGGINS: Glyn Liggins, Peter Crouch, Neil Rosen, Martin Jones

The trials will be shown on Bridgebase online. You can download Bridge Base Online from their website http://online.bridgebase.com or view it without downloading anything, from the BBOTV website http://www.bbotv.com/vugraph/

Top six finishes for two english pairs in European Youth Pairs Finals

Sadly no medals, by two of the english pairs competing in the European Youth Championships managed to finish in the top 6 of their series.

Susan Stockdale & Fiona Brown were competing in the Under 26 Girls series. They were never out if the top 10, eventually they finished 5th in their series.

Likewise James Paul & Graeme Robertson. who were in the Under 21 series. They too were never out of the top 10, and eventually they finished 6th in their series.

James Thrower & Shivam Shah were also in the final of the Under 21 series., they finished 14th.

<Ed Jones & Tom Paske finished 27th in the final of the Under 26's.

Five other pairs took part.

There is a considerable increase in English participation in this tournament and we are extremely grateful to the Educational Trust for British Bridge (donations always welcome) who have helped seven of these pairs, two from Wales and one from Scotland with considerable financial support. Well done everyone.

9th European Youth Pairs is under way

The 9th European Youth Pairs has begun with the qualifying round.

The following pairs, representing England, have qualified for their respective semi-finals:-

Robert Myers & Ben Paske (Under 21, in 2nd place)
James Thrower & Shivam Shah (Under 21, in 4th place)
James Paul & Graeme Robertson (under 21, in 11th place)
Susan Stockdale & Fiona Brown (Under 26 Girls, in 6th place)

The remaining pairs will go into a repecharge in their respective events, so still have a chance of reaching their respective final. They are
Liam Jones & David Faria (Under 21)
Thomas Rainforth & Philip Railing (Under 21)
Ed Jones & Tom Paske (Under 26)
Ian Angus & Joe Clacey (Under 26)
Sinead Bird & Jennifer Marvin (Under 26 Girls)

There is a considerable increase in English participation in this tournament and we are extremely grateful to the Educational Trust for British Bridge (donations always welcome) who have helped seven of these pairs, two from Wales and one from Scotland with considerable financial support. Good luck to all our pairs. There will be further updates on their progress as the tournament progresses.

Under 21's team for Beijing announced

In all, England will represented by five teams in the World Mind Sports Games in Beijing, China, which takes place on 3rd - 18th October.
Four of the teams are playing in events open to all nations, they are the Open, Womens, Seniors & Under 28's teams.
There are two other teams championships taking place in Beijing, They are the World Championships for Under 26's & Under 21's. Only the teams that qualified through their Zonal championships get invited to this. The England Under 21's team finished 4th in the European Under 21's in Jesolo, Italy last year, which was good enough to qualify them for the World Championship.

The second of these teams, the England team for the Under 21's World Championship has been announced by the EBU Youth Committee. The team is

Adam Hickman & Daniel McIntosh
Ed Jones & Tom Paske
Ben Paske & Rob Myers
NPC: Michael Byrne
Coach: Alan Shillitoe