[Walddk]

Another big event will be presented in our vugraph theatre this week, Thursday through Sunday.

The European Champions’ Cup is a competition between the national team champions of the top ten coun­tries at the most recent European Team Championships. The defending champions and the host country representatives are also invited.

Accordingly, this year, the top ten contenders of the 49th European Team Championships 2008, held in Pau, France, are: Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia and Sweden. Italy's 'Tennis Club Parioli Angelini', the defending champions, and the host team, bring the total number of contesting teams to 12. The format will be a round-robin qualifier, followed by semifinals, a final and playoffs.

This is the eighth event of the competition which was revived in 2002 in Warsaw, Poland, with the above format. The winners of that first event were Italy, followed by Israel and Norway.

Italy has been more than successful ever since, as it has won all titles held so far, except in 2006 when the gold medal went to Germany.

After the inaugural event, the tournament travelled to Rome, Barcelona, Brussels, Rome for the second time, Wroclaw and Amsterdam. This year, France will host the Champions' Cup for the first time, in the beautiful city of Paris, at the Headquarters of the French Bridge Federation in Saint Cloud.

This rates to be top quality bridge. Don't miss it! Full schedule to be found at our vugraph schedule web page.

Roland