World Bridge Federation informs
Following a satisfactory site inspection I am very pleased to confirm that the World Team Olympiad, together with the Seniors International Cup, the World Transnational Mixed Teams Championship and the University World Championship under the auspices of FISU will take place in Istanbul, Turkey from 23 October – 6 November 2004.
The Opening Ceremony will be on 23 October, and play will start in the Olympiad Open & Women’s Series and in the Seniors Cup on the morning of Sunday 24 October.
The World Transnational Mixed Teams will start on either Monday 01 or Tuesday 02 November – the exact date will be notified to you as soon as possible.
Teams knocked out of all the Olympiad, and teams from the Seniors International Cup will be able to play in the Mixed Teams free of charge.
The dates for the University World Championship are changed from those originally published. The Opening Ceremony for this event will be on Sunday 31 October, and play will start on Monday 01 November, with the final ending on Saturday 06 November.
The WBF does not charge an entry fee for the University World Championship but FISU make a nominal charge of US$20 per participant. Full board accommodation for the players will be provided at a cost of just US$45 per person per night. Each NBO is entitled to send one University team to this prestigious and exciting event, and we hope that yours will be no exception.
Players in the University World Championship must come from the same country but not necessarily from the same university. The age limits are 17 – 28 years.
The WBF President, Mr Damiani, asks me to remind you that the WBF is committed to supporting Junior Bridge, as the future of the sport lies with the youth, and strongly requests that your NBO sends a team to compete in this exciting event if at all possible.
The Closing Ceremony for all events will be on Saturday 06 November and is will be followed by a Victory Banquet for all participants.
Each NBO member of the World Bridge Federation is entitled to send one Open, one Women’s and one Senior Team to compete in the Olympiad / Seniors Bowl. Please assist us by confirming your initial entry as soon as possible, and certainly not later than 15 May 2004 so that we can work on the technical organisation of the Round Robin and Knock out Stages. However, note that players names are not required until 01 July 2004.
In view of the link between the WBF and the Olympic Organisation it is extremely important that as many teams as possible compete in both the Open and Women’s series – the Round Robin lasts for one week only and, of course, teams not qualifying may return home at this stage. Please also remember that unless your teams compete they will not be eligible to qualify for the 2005 Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup (see http://www.ecatsbridge.com/Documents/regulations/qualificationbbandvc.asp )
A list of alternative hotels, with a wide range of prices starting from approximately US$75 per room per night will be made available by the Turkish Bridge Federation. We will inform you as soon as we have received this.
The World Transnational Mixed Teams Championship is open to players from all over the world, provided they are members in good standing of their own Bridge Federation, and we ask you to advertise the event as widely as possible and encourage players from your country to participate. Entries should be sent in by 01 September 2004, although late entries will be accepted provided there is sufficient space at the venue.
A brochure with information about the event can be downloaded from the WBF Website, at www.worldbridge.org; (please note, however, that the dates stated for the University World Championship have been changed); information can also be found in the Events section of http://www.ecatsbridge.com
Please note the WBF eligibility regulations, and also take note of the qualification regulations for the Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup which are both on the pages regarding the Olympiad on http://www.ecatsbridge.com . If you prefer I can send you copies by email.
On a more personal note, I have set up an email newsletter which you are welcome to register for – it will be used to send out general information about the Olympiad and Istanbul as it becomes available, and you will probably find it quite useful. Go to http://www.ecatsbridge.com and on the front page you will see a link on the right hand side which suggests you Register for the Newsletters – click that and you will find the Olympiad Newsletter registration. If you register, please note that you will need to confirm the registration within a short period, so that the system knows it has a correct email address, so please look out for the email and follow the instructions.
Do keep in touch, and let me know if you have any queries. I know we can rely on you to keep to the deadlines for team entry, registration of names etc. all of which are at http://www.ecatsbridge.com/Events/wbf/2004olympiad/default.asp under Entry Details.