PABF looks for new qualifying date for world meet
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
With the Pacific Asia Bridge Federation (PABF) Championship having been rescheduled from June to September due to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, the federation is looking at a new timetable for qualifying for the Junior World Bridge Championship.
Bert Toar Polii, deputy secretary-general of the Indonesian Contract Bridge Association (Gabsi), said on Wednesday the junior event would be moved to Paris from Beijing and would take place from Aug. 18 to Aug. 28.
"We were notified about the change on April 30. The decision was taken at the PABF council meeting," Bert told The Jakarta Post here.
"Any country wanting to take part in the world meet are recommended to submit a letter to the PABF. If there are more than three, there will be a selection tournament. But they have yet to confirm the date," Bert said, adding that Indonesia had submitted a letter.
Despite the schedule change, the qualifying tournament for the countries grouped in Zone 6 will still be held in Manila.
Zone 6 includes China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Three teams from this zone will advance to the world event.
The change of venue for the junior world tournament from Beijing to Paris will have a familiar ring to Indonesia, which no doubt remembers when the Bermuda Bowl was moved from Indonesia's resort island of Bali to Paris in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S.
It was in Bali where Indonesia last competed in the biennial junior world bridge tournament in 1995, having failed to qualify in the years since.
The Manila meet will also concurrently hold qualifying matches for the women's, men's and senior teams. However, the three divisions are not affected by the date change given that their world events -- the Venice Cup for women, the Bermuda Bowl for open teams and the Senior Cup for seniors -- will be held in November in Monte Carlo.
The national selection tournament for the women and juniors are underway with five pairs apiece. The top two pairs will be included in the three-pair team, with the other pair to be picked by Gabsi.
The senior qualifiers were completed last week while the open team will be decided by the end of this month.