José Damiani's Opening Speech

	José Damiani President of WBF

It is with immense pleasure that we welcome you here in Paris and, especially this evening, to the Société Générale Headquarters, you – the young players – on whom all our hopes are pinned.

I do not regret having sacrificed my holidays– yet again but to which I have become accustomed - to work with all the team of the WBF, the FFB and the Société Générale to make these World Youth Team Championships happen despite all the difficulties.

Indeed the political and economic environment in the world today, complicated by the SARS epidemic, all caused some concern and obliged us to relocate this event in some haste to Paris.

And I cannot thank the French Bridge Federation enough for having accepted to act as our host and the Société Générale for sponsoring this 9th World Youth Team Championship. Together, we are at the service of bridge so that, during the next 10 days, we can live with the passion, the enthusiasm, the talent but also the fair play that you will arouse and that the whole world will be able to appreciate thanks to the modern techniques of communication.

Thank you all for being here and for being the best ambassadors of bridge.

I sincerely hope that this event will be yet another opportunity to promote our sport, to encourage new vocations so that young people will make bridge even more popular tomorrow than today.

To start the show, I declare these World Youth Teams Championship open.