PABF looks for new qualifying date for world meet
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.