Ostend has been host to hundreds of bridge players representing their various countries in the European Teams Championships. The ten-day marathon across three disciplines (Open, Women and Seniors) has two functions: first, to find the gold, silver and bronze European medallists, and second, to select the top eight teams (out of 33) who will go to next year’s World Championships in China. It finished on Saturday evening; Norway took gold on the last board, Israel received silver having led all day, and all three England teams qualified and will be going to China. Yippee!
The surprise teams, certainly unknown to me, were Hungary and Russia. Hungary stormed into the top eight after winning their first match and stayed there all week (leading at one point). A sensational performance but unfortunately they finished outside qualification. Russia, on the other hand, started slowly but ended up taking the bronze medal.
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