The 2011 World Bridge Championships, comprising the Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup, d'Orsi Senior Bowl and Transnational Open Teams competitions, will take place in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, 15-29 October 2011. Photo: Daily Bulletin.

The Netherlands 2011 Bermuda Bowl Champions

A song broke out in the VuGraph Theatre on Saturday afternoon, and several hundred delirious Dutch partisans we more than happy to join in for a chorus from the Queen hit song, “We Are the Champions.” The crowd was celebrating the Bermuda Bowl victory by the Netherlands, 300-255 winners over a tough team of young players from the USA.

In the other championship decided on Saturday, Israel Juniors — average age about 24 — earned the gold medal with a 132-105 win over Oz Open (Australia).

Two Golds for France

French teams continued the European dominance at the World Bridge Team Championships with gold medals in the Venice Cup and D’Orsi Senior Bowl. The French women were exceptionally strong, building a 196,3-103 lead against the tenacious team from Indonesia after five sets. The Indonesians withdrew with a set to go but, as you can see from the photo with their opponents in the final, they were happy with their silver medals. The France-USA2 match in the Senior Bowl had a more dramatic finish, as the French came from behind to win the championship. With a set to go, the winners trailed 141.3-132, but they won the final set 33-19 to claim their gold medals.

WBF Q & A on Anti-Doping and Bridge : Click Here

Robots Invade Holland: Daily Bulletin Sunday Oct 23 - The 15th annual World Computer Bridge Championship starts today, pitting the seven best robots vying for the title of Best Bridge Robot.

For history and results click here.

TWITTER

Any twitter postings with the hastag #40WTC will show up here.

BLOG ROLL

Join Michael Yuen, Lisa Wilson, Judy Kay-Wolff and many other writers Bridge Blogging from the Netherlands.

VIDEOS LIVE FROM ON SITE

Virtual bridge stadium - Pay a visit to www.Wkbridge2011.nl and you arrive at the Virtual Bridge Stadium. You will be amazed at how rich it is.
You will have live videos from Bridgeplaza and from playing rooms. You will also, as with VuGraph, enjoy diagrams as the play proceeds, plus video images of the players. You will find the running scores on each match, and you will be able to follow the play of the 12 tables equipped with cameras. There is more to discover, but finding out what will
be your surprise. All this is the work of a team of young men on the Netherlands Bridge Federation together with the young men working at Brainport (www.studiodiip.com).

You can also watch videos live from Veldhoven on BridgeWinners.com and BridgeTopics.com

NEWSY BITS

eCatsBridge: Lots of information and links can be found by clicking here.

GENERAL INFO

The Bermuda Bowl is the symbol of world supremacy at bridge. It is awarded to the winner of the open teams competition between the rep-re-sen-ta-tives of the WBF geographical zones. Since its inauguration in 1950, the competition has been played 39 times. So far, the United States of America were victorious 18 times, while their European rival, Italy, prevailed 14 times. The other titles were won by France (twice), Great Britain, Brazil, Iceland, The Netherlands and Norway. The current holders are the United States.

The Venice Cup is awarded to the winner of the zonal competition for women players. It was established in 1974 and, so far, only five countries have won it. The reigning champions, China, was the first Venice Cup holders from outside Europe and North America (WBF zones 1 & 2); they ascended to the podium in São Paulo '09. The United States of America, lead the race with 10 titles, while Europe follows with six successes achieved by Great Britain (twice), Germany (twice), The Netherlands and France.

The Senior Bowl is a new competition for senior players (60 years of age or older) competing for the trophy presented by Ernesto d'Orsi, a former WBF president, in 2009. Representative teams from all zones are invited to participate. Until 2009, the only winners of the competition had been the United States of America who won the inaugural event, in 2001 in Paris, France; in 2003, in Monte Carlo, Monaco; in 2005, in Estoril, Portugal and in 2007, in Shanghai, China. In São Paulo '09, England broke this record and became the second country in five contests to win the d'Orsi Senior Bowl.

The World Transnational Open Teams Championship came into being in 1997 in Hammamet, Tunisia. It is contested by teams nominated by the NBOs without nationality or other restrictions. The first winners were the team led by Leandro Burgay of Italy, while the last event held in São Paulo, Brazil 2009, was won by the Zimmermann team, comprising two French, two Italian and two Norwegian players.

This text found on the official World Team Championships webpage