70 junior internationals put the 'young' back in the Young Chelsea Bridge Club, as it hosted the Junior Channel Trophy this weekend.
The Netherlands won two of the competitions, securing a narrow victory in the U26 event, and a comprehensive win in the U26 Women's competition. The U21 competition was won by the French team. The Dutch winners of the Channel Trophy (for the U26 competition) are pictured receiving the cup from Baroness Henig of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Bridge.
Baroness Henig expressed her delight at seeing such enthusiasm for bridge amongst the young players, gave thanks to the organisers of the event, and praised the NBOs in England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands for their support of junior bridge.
England finished second in all three competitions. The U26 team ended the first round-robin in fourth, but good wins in the second set of matches, including a big victory over Belgium in the final match, saw them leap up in to second place. The U21s were in third for much of the event, but results in the final match - a large win against Belgium and defeat for the Dutch against France - saw them jump in to second place. The U26 Women were second for much of the event, and finished comfortably in that position, a long way behind the runaway winners, but 17VPs clear of third.
The England teams were Under 26s: Shivam Shah & Alex Roberts; Will Roper & Alex Birchall; Michael Alishaw & Stephen Kennedy; NPC: Alan Shillitoe
Under 21s: Ben Norton & Sam Behrens; Kripa Panchagnula & Jonathan Clark; Daniel Winter & Liam Sanderson; NPC: Michael Byrne
Under 26 Women: Laura Covill & Olivia Bailey; Yvonne Wiseman & Megan Jones; Jasmine Bakhshi & Liz Gahan; NPC: Bryony Youngs.
- Results
- Pictures: on Facebook; on SmugMug
December 18, 2016