The opening ceremony of the fourth IOC Grand Prix was graced by a number of distinguished guests. They included Marc Hodler & Tony Khoury, members of the Executive Board of the IOC, Mario Pescante, the President of the European Olympic Committee, and Polish IOC member Irena Szewinska, the Gold Medal winner in the Olympic 400 metres in Montreal 1976 where she was the first woman to run below 50 seconds.

All the leading figures in the world of bridge administration were also present. José Damiani, the President of the World Bridge Federation, Gianarrigo Rona, the President of the European Bridge League and George Retek, the President of the American Contract Bridge League.

Following speeches by Messers Retek, Damiani and Hodler, Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland preceded the introduction of the players. The competing teams include the reigning Venice Cup, Olympiad and World Junior Champions.

Early Leaders

After two matches, Canada are the early leaders in the men's series. They made an impressive start on VuGraph, outscoring USA by 34-5 IMPs for a 23-7 VP win and then gained the same number of Victory Points against India. The Netherlands lead the Women's event, having routed the powerful French team 25-4 VP in the opening round and then outscoring South Africa 18-12 VP. b, one of the favourites, also lost their second match to China, 11-19VP to find themselves at the wrong end of the table.

In the Junior event the first round matches have reached the two-thirds mark with Americas and Europe North enjoying a slight advantage.