EBL President’s Farewell

Dear Friends,

we are once again at the end of a marvelous bridge adventure. The curtain falls and we all are preparing to return to our houses, to our families, to our habits after having spent together fifteen intensive days. We are happy having lived a new experience, having met old friends and made many new ones.

It is time to draw the first balance of this event and I do hope that everyone has enjoyed participating. We have distributed a questionnaire and we will take into consideration your suggestions and your advice in order to further improve the standard of the Championship and make it more and more attractive.

On our side, we tried to do our best to manage and run it. We also had to face some technical problems due to some electrical and communication cuts of the whole region because of the high temperature. Unfortunately, with the coming of the new technologies, any minor inconvenience is reflected in the efficiency of our system. We are perfectly able to control whatever is in our domain, but unfortunately, we do not have a direct line with the Supernatural to intervene on the natural elements.

I want to thank World of Wonders who hosted us with friendship and warmth, inside and outside, and tried to satisfy all our different and various needs. I want to thank the Turkish Federation for the huge work done before and during the Championship and having provided our staff of many and very efficient collaborators, many of them being young enthusiastic bridge players who guarantee a future to their country. I want, once again, to thank the Organizing Committee and the local Authorities for the great support they gave us, which cannot be overlooked. I am pleased to invite to the podium Mr. Ata Aydin, President of the Turkish Bridge Federation, to award the Turkish Bridge Federation with the EBL Gold Medal, Mr. Allddin Yuksel, Governor of Antalya, Mr. Menderes Turel, Mayor of Antalya, Mr. Murat Molva, Vice-President of the Turkish Bridge Federation, Mr. Mehmet Akkasoglu of the Organizing Committee, Mr. Armagan Dayioglu and Mr. Oktar Zengin from Bentour Company to award them EBL plaques.

I want now to thank all the members of our great staff who enabled us to carry out this championship by offering their enthusiasm, their professionalism and their dedication. I would like to name them all, one by one, but for all of them I will call their chiefs, inviting them all to stand, when I call them to receive our much deserved applause. The great manager Ton Kooijman, with his collaborators Murat Molva, Levent Ozgul and Gianni Bertotto; the Appeals Committee led by Bill Pencharz and Jens Auken and Jean-Claude Beineix; the Tournament Directors led by Antonio Riccardi and Max Bavin; the Hospitality and Registration Team led by Silvia Valentini and Freddy Braque; our marvelous Master of Protocol Anna Maria Torlontano; the EBL Secretariat with Marina, Livia and Gildana; the Treasury with Marc de Pauw, Dirk and Federica; the Medical Commission presided over by Yves Aubry; the Main Office guided by Babbut Fulvio Colizzi with Bimbo Luc, uncle Alex, child Gianluca and relatives Albert and Yvette; the Communications Master Panos Gerontopoulos; the IBPA President Patrick Jourdain; the Press Room manager Ian Swaan and his assistant Mine; the Rama Commentators Barry Rigal, Jan van Cleef and P.O. Sundelin; the Daily Bulletin coordinated by Mark Horton; the Duplication Team led by Monica Gorreri; the technological team led by Professor Gianni Baldi, Tomas Brenning and Fotis Skoularikis; the IT System manager Duccio Geronimi and his assistant Manolo; finally I want to thank the BBO led by Murat Molva and Swan led by Laila Leonardt for their magnificent broadcasting. Last but not least our housemother, my dear friend and colleague Sevinç Atay.

Now we are really at the end. Thank you dear friends for your patience at difficult moments, which helped us solve the problems we faced. Thank you, my dear friends, for your fair-play, behaviour, serenity who contributed to create a true atmosphere of friendship and to show the real values of bridge that overcomes all other considerations. Once again our motto Bridge for Peace won! I hope you enjoyed your stay in Antalya and you have a safe journey home. Thank you for attention

Un abbraccio to you all

Gianarrigo Rona