All News
Gold Coast Report 1
The Gold Coast Congress started on Saturday 16th February. It is always very popular with Kiwis with approximately 240 attending this year. First up was the Bobby Richman Pairs divided into 5 categories, 2 sessions of qualifying followed by a 3 session final.
Bobby Richman Open Pairs
Auckland’s Jan Cormack, playing with ex Kiwi Stephen Lester, got off to a flier in the first qualifying session with 68.05% in the 101 table field and finished top North-South qualifier. Other Kiwis to make the A Final were:
Murat Genc- John Patterson N/S 9th
Kate Davies- Mindy Wu E/W 5th
Barry Jones- Jenny Millington E/W 6TH
Debbie McLeod – Brian Cleaver E/W 9TH
Michael Whibley – Matthew Brown E/W 10TH
Bobby Richman Seniors Open Pairs
Glenis Palmer – Christine Wilson were top N/S qualifier in the 18 table field with a 61% average while Beverley and Allan Morris and Neil Stuckey- Barry Palmer also qualified in the 14 pair final.
Bobby Richman Intermediate Pairs
Top East-West qualifiers were Auckland’s Kinga Hajmasi and Andrew Michl with a huge 63.8% average in the 62 table event. Also qualifying in the 14 table final were:
Anna Kalma – Charlotte Jager
Julia Zhu – Tony Jiang
Bobby Richman Restricted Pairs
There were 82 tables competing with the top 14 each way making the A Final. Kiwis qualifying were:
Paul Orsborn – Barbara Robinson N/S 4th
Laurie Belfield – Judith Howard N/S 7th
Pam Whitehead – Stuart Grant N/S 9th
Denise Mayhew – Dave Garrett N/S 11th
Charmaine Hanbury-Webber-Terri Sonal N/S 14th
Maciej Szczesny – Mariusz Tumilowicz E/W 1st
Sam Ward – Julia Barnett E/W 5th
Nicky Bowers – Joy Watkinson E/W 12th
Helen Andrews – Leah Andrews E/W 13th
Barbara Imlach – Annette Martin E/W 14th
Bobby Richman Novice Pairs
There were 46 tables competing but no Kiwis in the top 14 tables.
Weekend Match-point Swiss Pairs
This event is divided into 2 categories with 3 of the 9 rounds played on Saturday. In the Open event, 140 pairs are taking part. John Wignall, with his New Caledonian partner, is currently 5th with Greg Buzzard and Harry Shepherd in 9th place. 66 pairs are in the 0-500mp category with the highest placed Kiwis being Naomi Hannah-Brown and Priscilla Bloy in 14th place.
We will report next on Tuesday morning.
Richard Solomon