2018 Youth PABFs - Day 0 : Introduction and Arrival
Welcome to first progress report of the Australian Youth Team's campaign to win the PABF championship in Bogor, Indonesia!
Australia's current youth team is full of talent.
Jamie Thompson (Melbourne) has been playing on the Australian youth team for what seems like decades and although Matt Smith (Sydney) only has a few national caps, he has read just about every bridge book ever written.
Tomer Libman (Sydney) and Andrew Spooner (Canberra) are participating in their first overseas representative trip, and their recent form is very strong.
Francesca McGrath and Renee Cooper (Both Perth) are both veterans of the international scene, having previously represented the country in both the Youth and Girls divisions.
The team had its first outing at the Commonwealth Games this February. In a strong open field, Australia Green were in the Top 8 for most of the event before narrowly failing to qualify after a final round loss. They're hoping to do a little better in this event!
(From left to right: Jamie, Matt, Tomer, Andrew, Cesca, Renee)
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Our arrival in Indonesia was certainly an adventure! The bridge is being played in a leafy-green resort about 90km from Jakarta's international airport. Unfortunately, the traffic turned what might have been a pleasant 90 minute drive into a serious ordeal. Renee, Cesca and I started our trip in the morning, so it *only* took 4 hours. The boys weren't so lucky.
About 4 hours into their trip they were still stuck in traffic and had been at a complete standstill for almost an hour. That's when Andrew, Jamie, Matt and Tomer took matters into their own hands, abandoned their cab and hiked the last few kilometers. You might call it crazy but I think of it as a great "team-building exercise"
The above photo is definitely a 'before' shot. They didn't look anywhere near that happy after trekking 1.5 hours in Jakarta heat!
Nevertheless, game-day saw everyone arrive safely at the venue and excited to play some bridge (with the possible exception of Jamie who is forced to play one-handed after suffering a bicep strain on "The Hike").
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The format for this years event is a 13 round-robin of 16 board matches, with the Top 4 qualifying for finals. The Semi-Final and Final are both 48 boards with head-to-head carry forward from the round-robin. Although a couple of the strongest Asian teams were unable to send teams due to university exams, there are still several serious contenders including China Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and several Indonesian Teams.
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Round Robin Matches start daily at 1pm, 4:30pm and 7:15pm AEST with 2 matches per round broadcast on BBO Vugraph.
You can also follow results at:
http://www.ccba.org.cn/Tour/TourResultText.aspx?tourid=11712
Hopefully we can survive the round robin and make it to the finals!
Posted by Mike Doecke on Monday, 16 April 2018 at 08:39