39th World Team Championships Page 2 Bulletin 15 - Saturday evening 12 September 2009


WBF President’s Closing Speech

And so another excellent championship draws to a close. Once again, Ernesto d’Orsi has pulled out all the stops and organized a truly spectacular event in typical Brazilian style. Ernesto, it is difficult to find adequate words to express our deep appreciation and gratitude to you for all that you have done. You have worked tirelessly, not only before the championship itself, but throughout the past two weeks, overseeing even the most minor of details. Thank you from all of us and a big thank you to Cecilia for your charming support.

The hospitality and warmth of the “Paulistas” is legendary and makes any trip to Brazil that much more enjoyable as I am sure all you players and officials have realized.

Ernesto was ably assisted by his wonderful Championship Local Operations people, who have put themselves out to see that everything runs smoothly and have assisted players and officials alike with a multitude of requests. Their kindness and efficiency is unparalleled. All the people from the Federação Brasileira de Bridge and the Confederaciõn Sudamericana de Bridge have gone out of their way to ensure that the tournament has run extremely smoothly, something that I am sure you, the players, have greatly appreciated.

The bridge has, as usual, been of a very hand standard and has produced some very close matches providing lots of excitement in the marvellous auditorium. I am, as always, very impressed with your ethics, deportment and sportsmanship and the spirit that you bring to our great sport.

I am delighted to congratulate the winners and the medallists. It’s really interesting to note that there are more countries than ever in this medal role, particularly from Asia the first victory for the Chinese Women’s Teams after so many attempts. Four of the team members Liu Yi Qian, Sun Ming, Wang Hongli and Wang Wenfei finally became World Grand Masters as they so rightly deserved, as did Zhong Fu who played a great championship with his teammates. Many people in China are very proud of this performance especially Mr. Deng Guangen, president of the WBF Congress. The bronze medal for Indonesia was also well deserved. And there was the usual battle between the USA and Italy in the Open with the USA triumphing as expected. The team members have an impressive history. This is the 10th time that Bob Hamman has won the Bermuda Bowl and he has come second 6 times. Meckwell have done well, well well! They have won the Bermuda Bowl 5 times now. For Nick Nickell this is the 4th time he has won but it is the first time for both Zia Mahmood and Ralph Katz, the latter of whom also becomes a WGM. Some other European countries also did well, in particular England, Bulgaria, Poland and France.

However, I do not forget those amongst you who do not come up to the podium. You too are winners for participating in a great Championships and I thank you all for being here with us in São Paulo increasing the field with the Generali World Transnational Open Teams and the São Paulo Cup.

As I am sure you will recognize, there is an enormous amount of work involved in the organization of our Bridge Championships; the technology involved, the scoring 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. Your support is vital and very much appreciated and I share in Ernesto’s thanks to you all.

Have a safe trip home and we will look forward to seeing you in Philadelphia next year.

José Damiani, WBF President



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