| SILVER MEDAL IN UNDER -21 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS FOR ENGLAND TEAM |
| A well deserved medal at last for the England team that just missed a medal position in the European Championships in the summer of 2007.This time they did themselves justice by winning the 18 team round robin and choosing Netherlands as their quarter final opponents. Having disposed of the Dutch they then played the host nation China in the semi-final and squeaked through after the match was all square with one set to go. In the final they played France and in a very close match were tantalisingly close to taking the Gold. The team was composed of Ed Jones/Tom Paske, Rob Myers/Ben Paske, Adam Hickman/Dan Macintosh. Michael Byrne was non-playing captain and Alan Shillitoe was coach. Rob,Ben Ed and Dan played in the Manchester Bridge Club 30th Anniversary teams and Adam has played a lot of bridge in the club over the last couple of years. Michael Byrne as Under-20 Squad manager has worked tirelessly with his players arranging practice opportunities as well as training weekends and deserves much credit for the success of his team. |
| International Bridge Press Association Award (IBPA) for Defence of the Year. |
| We are delighted to report that the IBPA have made the award of Defence of the Year to Michelle Brunner for her play against China in the 2007 World Championship quarter finals. |
NORTH
S 10 2
H Q6
D Q542
C Q10985 |
WEST
S764
H J10952
D KJ98
C K |
EAST
S J5
H K843
D A10763
C 64 |
SOUTH
S AKQ983
H A7
D VOID
C AJ73 |
South and North bid as follows: One Club (Precision, 16+), One Diamond (0-7); Two Spades (forcing to game), 2NT; Three Clubs, Four Clubs; Five No-Trumps (Grand Slam Force), Seven Clubs (only one honour, but extra length).
Rhona Goldenfield found the excellent lead of the jack of hearts, declarer played dummy's queen, and, if Michelle had covered with her king, South would have won with her ace. With no entry to dummy she would have had to cash the ace of trumps - and drop the singleton KC! But Brunner withheld her king and declarer took the club finesse. One down! |
| ENGLAND OPEN TEAM AND WOMENS TEAM START PLAY IN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI FINALS ON TUESDAY 14th OCTOBER |
| Having qualified from the round robin and having won their quarter final matches, England's Open team and Women's team start their semi final matches on Tuesday. England Open team play Germany and England's Women's team play Turkey. Justin and Jason Hackett are playing in the Open Team and Catherine Draper who recently played in the club in the Eve Lighthill Trophy, plays in the Women's team. |
| Under 28 England Team reach quarter finals of World Championships |
The team of Ben Green, Duncan Happer, Fiona Brown and Susan Stockdale that played in our 30TH Anniversary Teams plus local players Andrew Woodcock and Ollie Burgess finished 6th out of 74 teams in the Swiss Teams qualifier for the Under 28 World Championships.The top eight teams qualified for the quarter finals but our team lost to France. |
| Manchester Bridge Club Mixed Pairs |
| Six tables played in the Club Mixed Pairs on Sunday evening the 12th October. Winners were Jeff Morris and Ann Thornton playing Jeff's favourite system - strong no trump, Stayman and Blackwood. Runners up were Mike Bell and Rumanian Junior International Lavinia Constantin and third were John Fitzgerald and Anne Turner.The full results were as follows: |
1st Jeff Morris and Ann Thornton 66.92%
2nd Mike Bell and Lavinia Constantin 58%
3rd Anne Turner and John Fitzgerald 55%
4th Barry Hobden and Irene Davies 54.42%
5th Dave Debbage and Wendy Gonsakarle 53%
6th Denis and Val Robson 50.83%
7th Lionel Green and Alison Blackman 46.25%
8th Farokh Engineer and Hilary Boydell 44.92%
9th Gary Kaye and Mags McEwan 44.83%
10th Haidee Schofield and Günter Berzins 43.75%
11th Tean Porteus and Craig Porteus 41.08%
12th Laura Bonney and Ross Allen 41.00% |
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