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The 45th World Bridge Championships kicks off next week in Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy, from 27th March to 9th April. New Zealand is sending just one team to compete in this event - their open team, the Bridge Blacks. It will be the first major event that New Zealand has competed at in person since the World Championships were held at Wuhan, China in 2019
The team of six players will be competing for the coveted Bermuda Bowl trophy – so named after the location when it was first contested in Bermuda in 1950. Due to travel restrictions and covid uncertainty, NZ Bridge decided not to send a full contingent which usually would see up to four full teams travel to the world championships to participate in the Open, Women, Senior and Mixed events.
There are 24 qualifying countries who are sending teams to compete at this year’s Bermuda Bowl in Northern Italy. The championships are held every second year usually on odd numbered years but was delayed from 2021 due to covid disruptions.
The initial goal for New Zealand is to gain a spot in the top eight teams to get through to the next round of qualifying. The players reckon that the teams to beat include the USA, Netherlands, Switzerland and some of the Scandinavian teams … although they like to think they will be on the radar of many of the stronger teams and are confident they have what it takes to win a place on the podium if things go their way.
Five out of six of the NZ team competed in the last championships held in Wuhan, China in Sept 2019 when they came agonisingly close to qualifying - finishing in 9th place after the round robin (after a woeful start they outscored the field on the last few days to just miss out on qualifying) … and they punched above their weight at the 2017 champs at Lyon, France to come 4th.
The New Zealand Bridge Blacks are:
Michael Cornell (Playing Captain)
Ashley Bach
GeO Tislevoll
Nick Jacob
Matt Brown
Michael Whibley
They all count their home clubs as Akarana in Remuera, Auckland – although Nick has recently moved from Tauranga to Sydney; Ashley spends half his time in Germany and Michael Whibley resides in Masterton.
The Bridge Blacks are a team of experience as well as youth – but even the youngest player, Matt Brown at just 25, is a seasoned campaigner with two Bowls under his belt and he is psyched up to avenge the ‘nearly but not quite’ moments following the previous championships.
The elder statesman and playing captain of the New Zealand Bridge team is Michael Cornell from Auckland who first competed for New Zealand at the Miami Olympiad in 1972 and is still a force to be reckoned with at the bridge table – winning the World Championship Pairs in Poland in 2016 with his bridge partner Ash Bach.
To access the results of the championships – click here:
We will profile each of the team members over the next week on the NZBridge community page and wish them luck in their campaign.
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