Israel wins world Junior title

Junior winners		Schools winners

The 5th World Junior Pairs Championship ended in suspence, with Adi Azizi and Yuval Yener of Israel capturing the world crown. The winners were leading most of the way of the 4-session tournament, but at the end the Grenthe brothers from France put up a wonderful performance and came within a small fraction of a percent from winning. There moments of great anxiety as the results were being checked carefully, but at he end Guillaume and Jerome Grenthe took the silver medal. The third place was taken by veteran Junior Bas Drijver and his 16-year old brother Bob of the Netherlands.

The first Schools (up to 20 years) pair of the competition was Jacco Hop and Vincent de Pagter of the Netherlands who ended up in a very creditable fifth place in the overall classification of the championship. They were followed by a transnational combination, 11-year old Shivam Shah of England and 17-year old Argentinian Agustin Madala (21st oerall), while the thrid place went to another French pair, Jean-Francois Grias and Romain Tembouret (37th overall).

The 5th World Junior Pairs Championship was a great success. It attracted 189 pairs from 27 countries (making the second best attended youth bridge event ever held), and stood out for the excellent organization and conditions provided by the Hunagrian Bridge Federation.

resh from the record success of the previous competition in Stargard, Poland, where nearly 450 young players took part, the WBF Youth Committee is pleased to announce the fifth event of the series. The World Junior Pairs Championship is the natural supplement to the World Youth Teams competition for the Ortiz-Patiño Trophy, and a necessary part of the WBF program for the development of bridge among young people worldwide.

Silver medalists Bas Drijver-Sjoert Brink of the Netherlands, World Champions Andreas Gloyer-Martin Schifko of Austria and bronze medalists Fabio Lo Presti-Francesco Mazzadi of Italy - celebrating their victory in Stargard '01

The World Junior Pairs Championship is designed to be a massive event in order to promote friendly contact between Juniors as much as possible. This is accomplished by not limiting the number of entries from any country, allowing the participation of transnational pairs, and by not splitting the competition into diverting stages.

The World Junior Pairs is a biennial tournament, conveniently held in conjunction with the World Junior Camp on consecutive dates and at the same or nearby places. This arrangement follows the successful European format, and the WBF thanks the European Bridge League and the Hungarian Bridge Federation, this year’s hosts, for their support in our effort. The WBF Youth Committee is confident that all NBOs will encourage and support their Junior players to participate in the World Junior Pairs Championship and looks forward to welcoming them in Tata.

The Junior Pairs Championship started as a European event in 1991. In 1995 it was expanded into a world competition, incorporating the European one. Previous venues and winners of the biennial competition have been: