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ABF SECRETARIAT
PO Box 397
FYSHWICK ACT 2609
Ph: (02) 6239 2265
Fax: (02) 6239 1816
secretariat@abf.com.auPRESS RELEASE - HELMAN KLINGER AWARD
28 January, 2000
The Australian Bridge Federation is pleased to announce that the inaugural Helman-Klinger Awards were presented at the 2000 Summer Festival of Bridge.
Rabbi Helman, an American lawyer and prominent bridge enthusiast and philanthropist, donated $6000 to establish the prize to honour Ron and Suzie Klinger's outstanding contribution to bridge in Australia. The donation was augmented by the ABF to create two awards.
The first Award of $400 was won by Mark Abraham of Tasmania. The guidelines in selecting Mark as the winner involved ability, achievement, sportsmanship, attitude, contribution and commitment to bridge. The seven nominations for the Award were, alphabetically:
Mark Abraham, Paul Brayshaw, Christy Bridgland, Nic Croft, Leigh Gold, Hakan Lyngsjo and Kylie Robb.
The additional prize was for the youth player who had earned the most masterpoints in 1999. This award of $200 was won by Leigh Gold of Victoria with 339.09 masterpoints.
Ron Klinger has always helped Youth Bridge, most notably with his free week of lessons for youngsters, which was how many leading youth and ex-youth players learned bridge. Ron's latest involvement was to provide a free seminar a few months ago to the bridge clubs of Trinity Grammar School and Sydney Girls' High following an inter-school match between the two schools.
The ABF acknowledges the splendid gift from Rabbi Helman, applauds the use of it to honour Ron and Suzie Klinger, and is most appreciative of the Rabbi's support for Australian Bridge.