President's Farewell Speech

Un gran successo! A truly great Championship!

A message from WBF President José Damiani

Our delightful Italian hosts have welcomed us with open arms and have provided us with a superb venue, warm hospitality and an event that we will remember for a long time to come.

You will, I know, wish to join me in thanking my dear friend Gianarrigo Rona, the President of the Italian Federation, together with the Comitato Mondo Bridge: Mrs Maria Cristina Motta, Luca Darbi, Enrico Ghinato, Camillo Norbiato, Giavanni Maci and Paolo Clair for all they have done to ensure the undoubted success of the Championship. I would also like to thank the Veronese authorities and, in particular, Regione del Veneto, the Verona Provincia, the Verona Commune, the Camera di Commercio, and VeronaFiere.

We have been fortunate indeed to have had the sponsorship offered by the Banco Popolare di Verona, the Cattolica Assicurazione and the Renault Group, and not forgetting Generali, which has been a most generous sponsor of bridge for many years and whose President, my good friend Antoine Bernheim, was able to join us here in Verona for a few days. I also personally thank another great friend of bridge, Romain Zaleski, for his support. Our sincere appreciation goes to Mrs Maria Teresa Lavazza for her unfailing support and the wonderful coffee that has been available to all. We would also like to thank Cartier and the Masi company for their generosity. Our thanks to our technical sponsors Gestetner, Dalman and Epson, and, too, Autostrada Serinissima, Aeroporti Catullo, Sartori di Verona and La Cucina Italiana for their support.

You will all, I am sure, recognise the enormous amount work involved in the organisation of our Bridge Championships; the technology involved, the hospitality - there are so many aspects, many of them unseen by you, the players. There are many staff who have worked long and hard throughout this fortnight, in every field and I am very pleased to have the chance to thank them all personally through the medium of this Bulletin.

The Hospitality Team – Martine Schupp and Antonio Salgueiro with Annie Chekroun

The Bulletin Team, with its co-ordinator Jean Paul Meyer and Editor Brent Manley, Mark Horton, Franco Broccoli, Barry Rigal and Brian Senior, photographer Ron Tacchi, layout editors Nicola Di Stefano and Akis Kanaris and Internet Editor Fotis Skoularikis and Roberto Luchin doing the printing.

Our Line-up team, Corry & Jan Louwerse with Irena and Janek Chodorowski and Herman De Wael.

Scoring and Results - Tomas Brenning, Harvey Fox, Jan Boets, Manolo Eminenti, Duccio Geronimi, Staffan Hed, Laila Leonhardt, Carl Ragnarsson, Simone Rona, Xavier Schurer, Marc van Beijsterfelt, Hans van Steveren & Ruggero Venier, using the Bridge Mate system developed by Ron Bowland. I know you all enjoyed the service provided by this new and exciting technology.

The Internet Vu-Graph broadcasts were provided by Bridge Base on Line and Swan Games

The Press Room, ably overseen by Jan Swaan with the assistance of the Press Attaches Mabel Bocchi, Alessandro Del Fabbro and Stefania Gandini.

Behind the scenes on the technical side, Mark Newton co-ordinated the IT, keeping the computers linked and the Internet alive. Christine Francin, Anna Gudge and Carol von Linstow worked within the WBF Secretariat while Marina Madia ensured the seamless coordination with the Italian secretariat.

In the Vu-Graph, there was the Bridge Vision Team headed by Elisabeth Antelme with Hervé Lustman, Elisabeth Piganeau and the Vu-Graph team, led by Bernard Delange, with Paul Binisti and Bernadette Pasquier.

Fulvio Colizzi organized the equipment, and the duplication team of Monica Gorreri, Vanessa Allodi, Federica Canali, Franco Crosta, Bo-Lennart Grahs and Hélène Vivier who dealt the many thousands of boards needed for the event and the team of caddies who distributed them amongst you so efficiently, led by Albert and Yvette Ohana. Also, the invaluable back-up team in the main office with Gianluca Barrese, Luc Crayebeck, Alex van Dongen and Annie Chekroun.

The excellent Vu-Graph commentators, who keep you so well entertained were Eric Kokish, Hans Werge and Claudio Brunelli, with their co-ordinator Jean-Paul Meyer.

The World Bridge Federation is fortunate to have a very experienced team of Tournament Directors, led by its Chief, Max Bavin, Assistant Chief TDs Maurizio Di Sacco, Richard Grenside and Antonio Riccardi together with Dimitri Ballas, Olivier Beauvillain, Bernardo Biondo, Christian Bordonneau, Gustavo Chediak, Anthony Ching, Pierre Collaros, Giulio Crevato Selvaggi, Anda Enciu, Bernard Gignoux, Qidar Ihsan, Rhami Ililikci, Petr Jelinek, Slawek Latala, Eitan Levy, Rui Marques, Jeanne van den Meiracker, Magdy Mesday, Jean-Louis Pennec, Guillermo Poplawski, Matt Smith and Sol Weinstein.

We also have to thank the Appeals Committee, under the able Chairmanship of Joan Gerard: Jens Auken, Jean-Claude Beineix, Patrick Choy, Richard Colker, Jean-Louis Derivery, Ernesto d'Orsi, Mazhar Jafri, Giovanni Maci, Jean-Paul Meyer, Dan Morse, Nissan Rand and John Wignall, for their work. A special mention, too, for Grattan Endicott, the co-ordinator.

Ton Kooijman has overseen the entire operation with his usual care and skill, working tirelessly throughout the event as he always does with the unstinting and valuable assistance of Gianni Bertotto and Manolo Linutz.

Please, all of you, accept my personal thanks and the thanks of the Executive Council. We are fortunate indeed to have such a professional and dedicated team

The bridge at the Championships has been - as we have come to expect from all of you - of a very high standard, with many close matches giving us plenty of excitement as we have watched in the excellent auditorium; I have been impressed as always with your ethics, deportment and sportsmanship and the spirit that you bring to our great sport.

It is with great pleasure that I congratulate the winners and the medallists, especially the American players who graciously allowed a few others to win some medals. The Charles Solomon trophy is presented for the best overall performance by representatives of one nation. It therefore gives me great pleasure to present this to the USBF.

But I do not forget those amongst you who do not come up to the podium - you too are winners for taking part in a great Championship, and I thank you all for joining us here in Verona.

For the future, we have the challenge of the World Championships in Shanghai at the end of September 2007 with the Chinese Bridge Association who will host the Bermuda Bowl. I am sure you will all be fighting hard to qualify for that Championship and that those of you who don't make your national team will want to come and play in the Transnational Open Teams just so that you can be with us in that amazing city.

In 2008, exceptionally, we will again be in China for the first IMSA Intellympiad and the World Team Olympiad and World Transnational Mixed Teams that will be taking place in Beijing.

Thank you all for your attention - and we hope to see you next year!