president's farwell speech

A truly great Championship!

Our delightful Chinese hosts have welcomed us with open arms and have provided us with a superb venue, warm hospitality and an event that we will remember for a long time to come.

You will, I know, wish to join me in thanking the Chinese Contract Bridge Association under the leadership of their President, Mr. Xiang Huai Cheng, their Honorary President Mr. Lanqin Li, and with the able assistance of my dear friends Chen Zelan and Fan Guang Sheng, for all they have done to ensure the undoubted success of the Championship. I would also like to thank the Chinese authorities, Mrs. Chen Zhi Li, State Councilor, Mr. Lui Peng, Minister of the General Administration of Sports of China, and, in particular, the Shanghai authorities and Mr. Han Zheng, Mayor of Shanghai.

We have been fortunate indeed to have had the sponsorship offered by the Shanghai Media & Entertainment Group under their President, Mr. Xue Pei Jian, Shanghai Zhong Fang Real Estate, and not forgetting Generali, which has been a most generous sponsor of bridge for many years. Our sincere appreciation goes to the Shanghai Sports Federation, Microsoft China, China Telecom, Dazhong Insurance and Shanghai Electric. And, too, all our other sponsors for their support.

You will all, I am sure, recognise the enormous amount of work involved in the organisation of our Bridge Championships; the technology involved, the hospitality – there are so many aspects, many of them unseen by you, the players. There are many staff who have worked long and hard throughout this fortnight, in every field and I am very pleased to have the chance to thank them all personally through the medium of thisbulletin.

The Hospitality Team – Martine Schupp.

Thebulletin Team, with its co-ordinator Jean Paul Meyer and Editor Brent Manley, Mark Horton, Barry Rigal and Brian Senior, photographer Ron Tacchi, proof-reader Phillip Alder, layout editor Akis Kanaris and Web Editor Dimitri Ballas.

Our Line-up team, Irena and Janek Chodorowski.

Scoring and Results – Tomas Brenning, Laila Leonhardt, and Carl Ragnarsson, using the Bridge Mate system developed by Ron Bowland. I know you all enjoyed the service provided by this new and exciting technology.

The Internet vu-graph broadcasts were provided by Bridge Base on Line and Swan Games.

The Press Room, ably overseen by Jan Swaan.

Behind the scenes on the technical side, Harvey Fox co-ordinated the IT, ably assisted by Duccio Geronimi, keeping the computers linked and the Internet alive. Christine Francin, Anna Gudge and Carol von Linstow worked within the WBF.

In the Vu-Graph, there was the Bridge Vision Team headed by Hervé Lustman, with Frédéric Volker and Godefroy de Tessières and the Vu-Graph team, led by Bernard Delange, with Bernadette Pasquier and Isabelle Barrière.

Fulvio Colizzi organized the equipment, and the duplication team of Monica Gorreri and Hélène Vivier, who dealt the many thousands of boards needed for the event and the team of caddies who distributed them amongst you so efficiently, led by Albert and Yvette Ohana.

The excellent Vu-Graph Commentators, who keep you so well entertained were Barry Rigal, Phillip Alder and Patrick Wang, with their co-ordinator Jean-Paul Meyer.

The World Bridge Federation is fortunate to have a very experienced team of Tournament Directors, led by its Chief, Max Bavin, Assistant Chief TDs, Richard Grenside and Antonio Riccardi together with Anthony Ching, Bernard Gignoux, Rui Marques, Jeanne van den Meiracker and Matt Smith. We also have to thank the Appeals Committee, under the able Chairmanship of Joan Gerard: Chairman Emeritus, Robert S. Wolff, Jens Auken, Richard Colker, Ernesto d’Orsi, Eric Kokish, Ton Kooijman, Jean-Paul Meyer, Dan Morse, Jeffrey Polisner, William Schoder, Brian Senior, Kathie Wei-Sender and John Wignall, for their work. A special mention too for Grattan Endicott, the co-ordinator.

Maurizio Di Sacco did an excellent job of overseeing the entire operation with care and skill, working tirelessly throughout the event. We are fortunate indeed to have such a professional and dedicated team.

A special mention, too, for the wonderful Pink Army of Shanghai volunteers.

Two other people who should not be forgotten are Mark Newton and Ton Kooijman. Although Mark decided to retire as our IT expert, a role he carried out with brio for over 10 years and for which we are immensely grateful, he will continue to run the Master Points programme. Ton, too, decided – if not to retire exactly – to reduce his workload but will be coordinating the operations in Beijing and we will very much look forward to seeing him there.

The bridge at the Championships has been – as we have come to expect from all of you – of a very high standard, with many close matches giving us plenty of excitement as we have watched in the excellent auditorium; I have been impressed as always with your ethics, deportment and sportsmanship and the spirit that you bring to our great sport.

It is with great pleasure that I congratulate the winners and the medallists.

But I do not forget those amongst you who do not come up to the podium – you too are winners for taking part in a great Championship, and I thank you all for joining us here in Shanghai.

For the future, we have the enormous challenge of the first World Mind Sports Games – combining Bridge, Chess, Draughts, Go and Chinese Chess – which for me, personally is the realisation of a dream as we bring young players from all over the world, indeed, I hope from every member country of the WBF to Beijing to compete. The event will include the Youth Teams, the Youth Pairs and Individuals and the Open and Women’s teams. The Senior Teams and the Transnational Mixed Teams will also be held concurrently with the World Mind Sports Games. I am sure you will all be fighting hard to qualify for that Championship and that those of you who don’t make your national team will want to come and play in the Transnational Mixed Teams just so that you can be with us in that amazing city.

Thank you all for your attention – and we hope to see you next year!