NORWAY scored a clear victory over a US veteran team to win their first ever title in the Bermuda Bowl competition, and admit their country to the club of World Open Team Championships winners. The Norwegian team, comprised exclusively players who have distinguished themselves in youth competitions over the past 20 years, winning medals in European and World youth events. Now they have scored their biggest success by capturing the Bermuda Bowl, symbol of world supremacy at bridge. The final match against USA was close only in the first half; thereafter the descendants of the Vikings left no room for doubt and emerged comfortable winners at the end of the final, with a margin of some 90 IMPs. This victory was long overdue, and came following a list of Norway's near misses in the Bermuda Bowl – second in Chile in 1993, third in Tunisia in 1997, second in Paris in 2001 and third in Monaco in 2003. The Netherlands finished in third place, beating an impressive South African team in the playoff. This was the second gold medal for a Nordic country (following Iceland's astonishing victory in Yokohama '91), and the 20th title for Europe (14 thanks to Italy, 2 by France and one each by Great Britain, Iceland, The Netherlands and Norway); USA has won the Bermuda Bowl 17 times, while Brazil is the only country from the rest of the world to have attained such a success.

USA scored most medals at the 38th World Team Championships. Besides ending up in second place in the Bermuda Bowl, they won easily the women series and captured the Venice Cup, beating Germany in the final. Third place went to China who outscored France in the playoff. USA leads the race in the women series, having won the Venice Cup 10 times, against Europe's 6 (two each by Great Britain and Germany, one by France and one by The Netherlands).

USA were victorious also in the Senior series and retained the Seniors Bowl in their possession, beating comfortably Indonesia in the final match. Another USA team took the bronze medal outscoring Brazil in the playoff. Senior bridge appears to be totally dominated by USA, as they have won all 4 titles contested so far.

Finally, the team led by Switzerland's Pierre Zimmermann and comprising French and Italian players, finished atop 147 other contestants to win the World Transnational Open Teams Championships. Zimmermann beat Russia on the final deal of the tournament to win the match with a margin of 4 IMPs. The bronze medal of this championship went to Germany.

The 38th World Team Championships were held in Shanghai's International Convention Centre, and were splendidly organized. For the first time ever, recording of the bidding and play of the hands was made electronically via the BridgeMate. Running scores were available in real time, while the hand, bidding and play records could be obtained shortly afterwards. The headquarters hotel, the Oriental Riverside Hotel, left nothing to be desired, and so did the other tournament services as the result of a fruitful cooperation between the World Bridge Federation and the Chinese Contract Bridge Association. The Victory Banquet was a most spectacular occasion with some great shows performed by Chinese children and some of their famous acrobats.