Introduction to APBF Youth

The APBF Youth Teams Championships will be held in the Montien Hotel Bangkok. The Montien Hotel is a 5-star hotel located right in the heart of Bangkok's commercial district for shopping, entertainment or business. It is conveniently located only minutes away from a sky train station, an underground station and a major railway station. It is also close to some of the major tourist attractions in Bangkok including China Town, The Grand Palace and The River of King, the Chao Praya river and Lumpini Park. Across the road from the entrance is the Patpong Night Market which is a great place to purchase gifts and it also the main ‘girlie’ nightclub scene for tourists (thank goodness the boys will be engrossed in the tournament).

 

The very popular APBF President Khunying Chodchoy (Esther) Sophonpanich has a controlling interest in this hotel. She conveniently makes the hotel available for bridge related activities whenever Thailand hosts an event.

 

The Opening Ceremony will be held at 19:00 on Thursday 4 April 2019. The Victory Dinner & Prize Presentation will be on Thursday 11 April 2019 at 19:30. It is my experience that the entertainment on the final day will be of the highest quality.

 

There are four categories in which countries can nominate teams.

 

The Junior teams.

 

All team members shall have at most their 25th birthday in the calendar year 2019 (i.e. shall have been born in or after 1994).

 

The entry fee is US$400 per team.

They will be playing for the Raymond Chow Cup.

 

A country can only nominate one team for this category. There are nine countries represented in this category - China, China Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Australia.

 

The Australian Team for the APBF - is Matt Smith-Jamie Thompson, John McMahon -Nico Ranson and Tomer Libman - Andrew Spooner

 

The 9 competing teams shall play in 2 round robins of 14-board matches each played in one session, with a bye for each team in each round robin. The Round Robin will start on Friday 5 April, and finish on Tuesday 9 April. The top 2 teams with the highest number of Victory Points will enter the 48-board final with a carry-over. The final will be 3 16-board segments. The winner will be the Gold Medallist.

 

The schedule is as follows:

 

Note: Bangkok is currently 4 hours behind AEST daylight saving time. However, daylight saving ends this Sunday 7 April (then only 3 hours behind).

 

The draw of team numbers will take place at the Captains Meeting, to be held on Thursday 4 April 2019 at 16:00. The first-round robin schedule is shown below.

 

 

 

Day

Time

Draw

Draw

Draw

Draw

Bye

Friday

9:00

2 vs 6

3 vs 7

4 vs 8

5 vs 9

1

 

11:30

9 vs 1

6 vs 3

7 vs 4

8 vs 5

2

 

14:30

1 vs 8

2 vs 9

4 vs 6

5 vs 7

3

 

17:00

7 vs 1

3 vs 2

5 vs 4

9 vs 8

6

Saturday

9:00

1 vs 6

2 vs 7

3 vs 8

4 vs 9

5

 

11:30

5 vs 1

4 vs 2

9 vs 3

7 vs 6

8

 

14:30

1 vs 4

2 vs 8

3 vs 5

6 vs 9

7

 

17:00

3 vs 1

5 vs 2

8 vs 6

9 vs 7

4

Sunday

9:00

1 vs 2

3 vs 4

5 vs 6

7 vs 8

9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second-round robin schedule will be determined by the finishing positions in the first-round robin.

 

The Youngster teams.

 

All team members shall have at most their 20th birthday in the calendar year 2019 (i.e. shall have been born in or after 1999).

 

The entry fee is US$200 per team.

They will be playing for the Khunying Esther Cup.

 

A country can only nominate one team for this category. There are seven countries represented in this category - China, China Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and Thailand.

 

The Girls teams.

 

All team members shall have at most their 25th birthday in the calendar year 2019 (i.e. shall have been born in or after 1994).

 

The entry fee is US$400 per team.

They will be playing for the Xiang Huaicheng Cup.

 

A country can nominate up to two for this category. There are eight teams represented in this category – China (2), Chinese Taipei (2), Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and Thailand.

 

The Kids teams.

 

All team members shall have at most their 15th birthday in the calendar year 2019 (i.e. shall have been born in or after 2004).

 

The entry fee is US$200 per team.

They will be playing for the C. W. Pisessith Cup.

 

A country can nominate as many teams as they like for this category. There are twenty-two teams represented in this category – China (11), Chinese Hong Kong, Indonesia (2) Thailand (8).

 

Summary

 

China have nominated the maximum number of teams in the first three categories and eleven in the final category. The strength of bridge in this nation is strong at the open, women’s and senior level and there is a substantial young group coming through the ranks.

Posted by Chris on Wednesday, 3 April 2019 at 15:34

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