The IBPA presents its Sporting Award only on rare occasions when there is a total standout for this award. This year the IBPA felt it had such a candidate - Lynn Deas of the United States. The IBPA recognised her intense devotion to the game whereby she has played in many major championships, including this one, despite being confined to a wheelchair by the myasthenia gravis, a dread disease for which there is no known cure.

Lynn was unable to be present to receive her award - at present she is devoting all her limited strength to playing bridge. Day before yesterday she played all 32 boards as her team made a magnificent comeback to defeat Canada in the quarterfinals. Yesterday she was very much in the thick of it as her team took on the other United States team.

On hand to accept the award on behalf of Lynn was Kathie Wei-Sender, one of Lynn's teammates. Kathie, a former Personality of the Year and an Honorary Member of the ACBL, told of the exceptional efforts Lynn has made to continue her bridge career. Her speech was extremely emotional as she talked about Lynn, and the emotion carried over to the IBPA members present. She said that one of the things that really bothers Lynn is that lots of people think that her brain doesn't work because she has such a severe handicap. Clearly her performance here, in China and in the American Trials, proves that is far from the case.

Following is the tribute to Lynn that accompanied the award:

The world's top woman player, measured by WBF masterpoints, is the American star, Lynn Deas. In the past 10 years she has won four world titles: the Venice Cup in Jamaica in 1987, Perth, Australia in 1989 and Yokohama, Japan, in 1991, and the Women's Team Olympiad in Rhodes, Greece, last year.

She also has won countless North American championships. This has been accomplished in the face of a disabling health problem, which has become progressively worse during her decade of success. She suffers from myasthenia gravis, a muscular disorder for which there is no cure. For the past year she has been confined to a wheelchair. She has to play bridge, with all her accustomed brilliance, in a horizontal position. When she arrived in Hammamet, she was immediately hospitalised with pneumonia, a far more serious development for her than it would be for a person in normal health. She was unable to compete until the next-to-last day of the round-robin.

For her dignity and cheerfulness in the face of this heavy burden, the International Bridge Press Association has named her as the recipient of its 1997 Sporting Award. This award has been in abeyance for many years.