Dear Friends

First of all I would like to thank you all for your strong support at this
time - I greatly appreciate the fact that all the teams from the Bermuda
Bowl and the Venice Cup are happy to come to Paris to compete in the World
Championships, and although we will miss three of the original teams from
the Seniors Bowl, we will still be able to hold this Championship with eight
teams instead of ten. There have been some teams withdrawing from the
Transnational Open Teams, but on the other hand some new teams have entered,
and the Championship will be held as planned.

It is our intention that play will start on Sunday 21st or Monday 22nd
October - it is impossible for us to say at the present time which it will
be since it is dependent on the equipment arriving back from Singapore,
where the boat was stopped. We ask all the Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup and
Senior Bowl teams to arrive by Saturday 20th October so that you are
refreshed and ready to play as soon as we can start. The Transnational Teams
should aim to arrive in order to start play on either Sunday 28th or Monday
29th October.

We have been working to try to ensure that the Championships can be held in
comfort and I am now able to tell you that they will almost certainly be
staged at the new French Federation Headquarters at 20-21, Quai Carnot,
92210 SAINT-CLOUD, Paris

Since last emailing you we have managed to obtain new options on sufficient
rooms at one of the major hotels in Paris, The Hotel Concorde-Lafayette
(http://www.concorde-lafayette.com/somm.html)., where we are looking to play
the Seniors Bowl and maybe everything (including the Transnational Teams)
during the second week. Unfortunately the costs may be a little higher
(about 10%) than we had originally anticipated but for this hotel are still
well below their normal rates - and even their special promotional rates -
which can be seen on their website. As before, the room rates are for single
or double occupancy, and inclusive of a buffet breakfast for one or two
persons and taxes.

If it is your intention to attend the Championships as a member of the
Press, please complete the attached registration form as quickly as possible
and return to us before 8th October in order to ensure that we can hold the
event. We will then forward it to the hotel on 12th October and they will
confirm your reservation directly to you.

I ask you all to co-operate with us by staying in the designated hotel and
not seeking alternative accommodation elsewhere and those of you in the
Western world, to whom we have shown our solidarity by cancelling the event
in Bali and relocating it to Paris, to stay in the Club La Fayette rooms and
allowing our friends from the Far East to have the less expensive, de luxe
rooms as they now have to face far higher expenses than they originally
anticipated. The two categories are in the same hotel, and we have to fill
all the rooms in order to achieve the quota and thus obtain the rates we
have been given, and it is extremely important that we do so. We have an
equal number of rooms in each category (150). Also by staying in this hotel
you will enable us to provide a proper shuttle service for your players to
get to the playing areas when necessary.

The WBF looks forward to welcoming your delegation to Paris.

José Damiani
President, World Bridge Federation
3rd October 2001