Congratulations to De Lombard and the English Champions!
The final in the Open series was sort of an anticlimax. At halftime, the score was 42-9 to De Lombard so that match looked all over. The second half did not produce much of interest for the spectators (or for the contestants themselves, for that matter), until the two final boards. The losing finalists did their reputations as outgoing holders a lot of good by recouping 23 IMPs, to lose eventually by 20.
In the women’s category, it was basically the same story. One double-digit swing at about the halfway points settled the issue, or at least seemed to do so until the last three boards came up. The Italians bid a fine slam on the last board, only to find out that they were not vulnerable and thus had lost the match by the odd IMP after all…
The bronze medals went to the French Champions (Open) and to the Hungarians (women).
Congratulations also to the winners of the sections B and C. In the Open it’s Bergen Akademiske (5th) and the Serbians (9th); and in the women’s group it’s Poland (5th) and Palcan (9th) who won.
Open Teams – podium
- BC DE LOMBARD
Sjoert BRINK
Bas DRIJVER
Jacek KALITA
Michal KLUKOWSKI
Michal NOWOSADZKI
Pierre ZIMMERMANN
Fernando PIEDRA (npc) - BRIDGE ADDAURA ASD
Luca DE MICHELIS (pc)
Massimiliano DI FRANCO
Giuseppe FAILLA
Andrea MANNO
Ron PACHTMAN
Piotr ZATORSKI
Fulvio MANNO (coach) - FRENCH CHAMPIONS
Marc BOMPIS
Alain LEVY
Erick MAUBERQUEZ
Christophe OURSEL
Franck RIEHM (pc)
Philippe SOULET
Women Teams – podium
- ENGLISH CHAMPIONS
Sally BROCK
Fiona BROWN
Helen ERICHSEN (pc)
Diana NETTLETON
Nevena SENIOR
Nicola SMITH - GSAD IDEA BRIDGE TORINO
Claudia CASTIGNANI
Margherita CHAVARRIA
Eleonora DUBOIN
Katarzyna DUFRAT
Simonetta PAOLUZI
Justyna ZMUDA
Marina LEVONI (npc) - HUNGARIAN CHAMPIONS
Szilvia CSIPKA
Julia HEGEDUS
Orsolya HEGEDUS
Janka JALSOVSZKY
Eszter TICHY
Agnes ZALAI