[Gerben42]

In 20 minutes the last round of the Women's competition in Oostende will start. As you can see from the score before the last round, the competition is completely decided and it is not worth it to broadcast any matches.

So I think it was an excellent decision from the organizers to completely ignore the Women's competition in the last round, and instead show 5 Open matches.

Oh BTW, here's the score before the last round.



As you watch one of the 5 matches, the women are playing some world class bridge, invisible to the public. I'm sure it was exciting. Let's hope they go through the trouble and tell us who won, at least.

DISCLAIMER: Roland Wald was not responsible for picking the matches, this was decided at the venue.

[MickyB]

Unfortunately, there are no clashes between the top teams in the last round - England vs Israel, perhaps, but that won't affect who wins. They could have shown several womens matches but I doubt that would have been a popular choice either.

How many teams qualify for the Venice Cup?

[Walddk]

MickyB, on Jul 2 2010, 06:58 PM, said:

How many teams qualify for the Venice Cup?

Seven when the Netherlands are among top 6, and they are.

[Gerben42]

Nothing much changed in the rankings, France - Netherlands - Sweden got the medals, those shown as 4 - 7 are still 4 - 7. But it could have.

Quote

Unfortunately, there are no clashes between the top teams in the last round - England vs Israel, perhaps, but that won't affect who wins. They could have shown several womens matches but I doubt that would have been a popular choice either.

Why wouldn't that have been a popular choice to show the French or Dutch ladies, the two teams that were battling for gold? They are very much world class players, I can assure you.

[JanM]

Walddk, on Jul 2 2010, 10:14 AM, said:

MickyB, on Jul 2 2010, 06:58 PM, said:

How many teams qualify for the Venice Cup?

Seven when the Netherlands are among top 6, and they are.

I'm sure you're right, but I wondered where one can find this information. The WBF Supplemental Conditions of Contest for Sao Paulo (there aren't yet any that I can find for 2011) say:

Quote

The number of teams from each Zone invited to participate in the 2009 Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup and d’Orsi Seniors Bowl is published on the WBF Website at www.worldbridge.org and at www.ecatsbridge.com"

I confess that I can never find anything on the WBF site, so I looked at ecats to see if I could find the information for 2011 and couldn't.

Does anyone know why Europe gets more teams for the Venice Cup than the Bermuda Bowl? Assuming that they do - I think they get 5 for the Bermuda Bowl (plus the host Netherlands of course) and 6 for the Venice Cup (plus Netherlands).

[Walddk]

JanM, on Jul 2 2010, 11:06 PM, said:

Does anyone know why Europe gets more teams for the Venice Cup than the Bermuda Bowl? Assuming that they do - I think they get 5 for the Bermuda Bowl (plus the host Netherlands of course) and 6 for the Venice Cup (plus Netherlands).

They don't. Europe gets 6 + the Netherlands in all 3 series. NL don't count because they are hosting the event, so they have an automatic berth.

http://www.eurobridge.org/bulletin/10_1%20.../pdf/Bul_08.pdf page 16.

Roland

[JanM]

Thanks - I don't know where I heard 5 (I know I did) but 6 in each makes more sense. And of course the host country always gets an "ex quota" team.

[mrdct]

I thought I read somewhere else that the composition for the 2011 Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup was still undecided with it being a possibility that USA will reduce to one team in each series due to its membership falling below 140,000.

[hanp]

Gerben42, on Jul 2 2010, 03:35 PM, said:

Why wouldn't that have been a popular choice to show the French or Dutch ladies, the two teams that were battling for gold? They are very much world class players, I can assure you.

The difference between the Dutch open team and the Dutch women's team is enormous so I don't know what this means.

I would have watched them anyway though, so I agree with showing them on vugraph!

[Walddk]

hanp, on Jul 4 2010, 01:07 PM, said:

Gerben42, on Jul 2 2010, 03:35 PM, said:

Why wouldn't that have been a popular choice to show the French or Dutch ladies, the two teams that were battling for gold? They are very much world class players, I can assure you.

The difference between the Dutch open team and the Dutch women's team is enormous so I don't know what this means.

I would have watched them anyway though, so I agree with showing them on vugraph!

I think Gerben's point is that they should have shown matches from the last round of the women's series instead of encounters between teams that were no longer in contention in the open. With five matches on offer I think we can afford that.

The women already know and have known for years that they are rated below the open, but the decision not to show them at all is not going to make them feel any better. Aren't there any rebels out there?

Roland

[mrdct]

There may have been some merit in putting on ladies matches in the last round if the organisers had seeded the draw to ensure that the contending teams played each other in the last round.

[hanp]

Walddk, on Jul 4 2010, 06:14 AM, said:

hanp, on Jul 4 2010, 01:07 PM, said:

Gerben42, on Jul 2 2010, 03:35 PM, said:

Why wouldn't that have been a popular choice to show the French or Dutch ladies, the two teams that were battling for gold? They are very much world class players, I can assure you.

The difference between the Dutch open team and the Dutch women's team is enormous so I don't know what this means.

I would have watched them anyway though, so I agree with showing them on vugraph!

I think Gerben's point is that they should have shown matches from the last round of the women's series instead of encounters between teams that were no longer in contention in the open. With five matches on offer I think we can afford that.

The women already know and have known for years that they are rated below the open, but the decision not to show them at all is not going to make them feel any better. Aren't there any rebels out there?

Roland

I completely agree.