Bridge Notes: Ireland recorded its most impressive result yet in the European Bridge Championships, held this year in Warsaw.
The team won the silver medals at the 48th Prokom Software SA European bridge team championships, which ended on Saturday.
The team of Nick FitzGibbon, Adam Mesbur, Tom Hanlon, Hugh McGann, John Carroll and Tommy Garvey with non-playing captain, David Jackson, and supported by Betdaq, defeated Norway 17-13 in round 32 before overcoming Scotland 23-7 in their last match.
Before the last round the Norwegians were in second place, well behind Italy but six points ahead of Ireland and the Netherlands. In the last round Norway lost 13-17 to Turkey and the Netherlands went down 10-20 to Bulgaria.
Sweden, Ireland's other close challenger, drew 15-15 with Iceland. However, the Irish players were not depending on their rivals faltering. They beat Scotland convincingly and ended with a four-point margin to take the silver medal.
This was the best performance by an Irish team in a European open championship. Ireland's only previous open medal was bronze in Lausanne in 1979. FitzGibbon and Mesbur were members of that team. Irish women's teams won two silver and three bronze medals between 1952 and 1973.
Italy won its seventh successive championship and 19th in total. Norberto Bocchi, Georgio Duboin, Lorenzo Lauria, Alfredo Versace, Claudio Nunes and Fulvio Fantoni - with Maria Teresa Lavazza as non-playing captain - pulled away from the field early in the event and never looked like being overtaken.
They are rated one of the best teams the world has seen. Only three teams - Ireland, Iceland and Poland - beat them in Warsaw. Norway finished third, followed by Sweden, the Netherlands and Poland. The first six qualified for the world championships and Bermuda bowl in Shanghai, China, to be held from September 29th to October 13th, 2007.
This is the first time an Irish team has qualified for the Bermuda bowl. In 1979, when Ireland was third, only one team from Europe went forward. The team champions of the leading 10 countries will be invited to participate in the champions' cup competition in Rome in October.
France won the women's event and Germany, Denmark and Croatia also qualified for China.
Final standings: top 20 European Bridge Championships
Ireland, represented by Ena Cleary, Jeannie Fitzgerald, Ciara Burns, Mary Finn, Dympna Friel and Diane Greenwood with Gay Keaveney as non-playing captain, finished 20th.
Germany's seniors (over 57s), won their first championship when finishing ahead of Sweden, and France. Denmark, Poland and Italy also booked their passages to Shanghai.
Ireland's veterans, John Comyn, Joe Moran, Enda Glynn, Paul Scannell, Des Houlihan and Gordon Lessells, with Brendan O'Brien as non-playing captain, finished in 15th place.
OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP
1 Italy 661
2 IRELAND 594
3 Norway 590
4 Sweden 582
5 Netherlands 581
6 Poland 579
7 Iceland 572
8 France 554
9 Hungary 537
10 England 534
11 Germany 533
12 Bulgaria 527
13 Turkey 527
14 Israel 511
15 Denmark 509
16 Spain 504
17 Scotland 492
18 Russia 491
19 Croatia 461
20 Finland 460
WOMEN
1 France
2 Netherlands
3 England
4 Germany
5 Denmark
6 Croatia
7 Poland
8 Austria
9 Italy
10 Norway
11 Spain
12 Sweden
13 Scotland
14 Finland
15 Israel
16 Turkey
17 Hungary
18 Russia
19 San Marino
20 IRELAND
SENIORS (over 57s)
A Final:
1 Germany 351
2 Sweden 337
3 France 335
4 Denmark 327
5 Poland 317
6 Italy 315
7 Turkey 304
8 Scotland 273
B Final:
1 Israel 318
2 England 307
3 Netherlands 303
4 Finland 281
5 Wales 262
6 Switzerland 250
7 IRELAND 248
8 Estonia 237
next championships will take place in June, 2008.