A couple of pieces of international news to report.
An IBU Junior team came a very creditable fourth in the third PCU International University Bridge Trophy, held live recently in Antwerp. This is a free bridge event for universities worldwide. The main objective is to offer students a platform where bridge is considered as a valuable instrument to develop international interaction and experience, with emphasis on fair play and friendship. Our team was Luca Crone, Matthew O’Farrell, Aileen Armstrong, Andrew Newbold, Sheila Walsh, and Isabel Burke. Well done to them all.
And a mainly Irish team has qualified for the final of the Online Contract Bridge League October Cup, seeing off some very strong opponents on the way. The Moran Team consists of Mark Moran, Tom Hanlon, John Carroll, Tommy Garvey, Adam Mesbur, Nick FitzGibbon, Grainne Barton, and honorary Irishman Leslie Amoils of Canada. They will face a very good team in the final – mainly Dutch with a couple of Swedes – including an open world champion in Rico Van Proojen, and a women’s world champion in Ida Grönkvist. So the event will be well worth watching, and you can do just that, as the match will be open to kibitzers on BBO. It is next Monday, 8 November, at 15:00 Irish time. Best of luck to the Moran Team. You’ll find all the details of the OCBL events here.