Irish juniors Luca Crone and Matthew O’Farrell finished sixth in the President’s Cup at the European Transnational Youth Championships in Veldhoven, the Netherlands which finished on Saturday – only a week after the pair featured in the final of a major American tournament in Chicago.
Along with Isabel Burke and Tom Gorey they also competed in the under-26 championship. Phedra Kingston and David Coyne contested the under-21 event. Netherlands and Greece were the leading medal winners across the eight championship events decided.
Jackie and John Flynn won the Ciara Burns memorial competition for intermediate grade players in Belfast on Sunday. Maureen Kelly and Mandy Degan were second, Brian Mullan and Toni Bradley third.
The annual North-vSouth match for the Sonya Britton Trophy will be played on Saturday and Sunday, August 12th and 13th at La Mon hotel in Belfast following a three-year absence from the fixtures calendar due to the Covid pandemic. Six teams of four players, representing different grades of players, will line out for each side. A new feature of the match will be the addition of a junior side.
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The following teams will represent the Contract Bridge Association of Ireland: Open: Tomás Roche, Paul Delaney, Martin Brady and David Dunne; Women: Lucy Phelan, Louise Mitchell, Ann O’Connell and Valarie Burke-Moran; Masters: Ian and Niall Kilroy, and Eoin and Mary Hodkinson; Intermediate A: Kevin McKevitt, Angela O’Neill, Helen Dredge and Ann Hogan; Intermediate B: Melissa Brady, Kathleen McCabe, Mary Maguire and Nora Scanlon; Juniors: Crone, O’Farrell, Burke and Gorey; Officials: Gordon Lessells (captain), Brendan Martin, Pat O’Mahony and Linda O’Riordan. Northern Ireland’s selection has not yet been announced.
The closing date for entry to pre-qualifying trials, which will be held in Templeogue, Dublin, on September 23rd and 24th and which will gain entry to the home-international trials proper is Friday August 11th. Contact cbai.ie.
Irish fans will be able to follow the World Championships in Marrakesh, Morocco from the August 20th to September 2nd when Ireland will compete for the Bermuda Bowl – the World Cup of bridge – on the Bridge Base Online website, where matches may be viewed live. Ongoing results will be available on www.worldbridge.org.
Bridge classes will begin in September throughout the country, but international player and professional teacher Peter Pigot is already accepting enrolments. Details at bridgewebs.com/PeterPigotBridge.
Bridge Notes, on holiday during August, will next appear on September 5th.