User:P64/Bridge/Far East Bridge Championships

The Far East Bridge Championships were annual contract bridge competitions beginning 1957, initially among national teams representing the Japan, the Phillippines, Hong Kong, and the Republic of China (later designated Taiwan or Chinese Taipei).

Next year the Far East association ruled that the auction should be in writing.

In 1964 a Far East championship for women was introduced. There were now nine members, the founders plus Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Saigon Sporting Club, and the Okinawa Bridge Club.

For the 1966 Bermuda Bowl, the Far East champion was admitted to the field for the first time.

A few years later Taiwan shocked the bridge world by finishing second to Italy in 1969. The Italian Blue Team retired after the tournament with ten consecutive triumphs, and Taiwan finished second to North America in 1970, and fourth as host in 1971, before dropping out of the top ranks.

...

By 1981, when three teams from the Far East participated in the 7-team "Bermuda Bowl", a biennial world championship tournament, there were 14 bridge nations in the Far East: the four founders plus Pakistan, India, China, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand. By that time, the member nations were located in three of the seven recognized World Bridge Federation geographic zones. Pakistan and India were in "Asia and the Middle East" (zone 4), Australia and New Zealand in "South Pacific" (zone 7), which Pakistan and Australia represented as zonal champions in the 1981 tournament. "Pacific Asia" (zone 6) covered only the geographic heart of the Far East.

Far East bridge championships, like many other international but regional tournaments such as Nordic and South American, became less important as World Bridge Federation tournaments expanded in size.

By 1991, the Bermuda Bowl and parallel Venice Cup tournament for women comprised 16 teams

Results
There were four participating teams in the first tournament, representing the founding members of the Far East Bridge Federation(?): Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. By 1964 there were nine members including Saigon and Okinawa clubs, by 1982 fourteen members no longer including the two clubs.

Championships 1957 to 1982

Open          Women 7 Indonesia    1 6 Taiwan (aka Chinese Taipei) 4 Thailand     2 3 Hong Kong 2 Philippines  4 2 Australia    4 1 India        1 Singapore   3 New Zealand 2 Malaysia    1 Pakistan Japan South Korea China (recently the strongest team) 25             18

Indonesia won three consecutive Opens from 1972, Australia three Womens from 1973.

Patrick Huang of Taiwan and Henky Lasut were members of four winning teams.

Beginning 1981, every Bermuda Bowl tournament has included representatives of all three geographic zones that overlap the Far East: now called Asia and the Middle East (zone 4), Pacific Asia (zone 6), and South Pacific (zone 7). As of 2011, those three zones enter two, three, and two teams in each of the 22-team Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup, and Senior Bowl tournaments (7 of 22), plus one more from any zone that includes the host city.

The second-place Bermuda Bowl finish by Pakistan in 1981, the first Bermuda Bowl with participation by zone 4, remains unmatched by anyone from Asia and the Middle East, and no Women or Seniors team from the zone won any medal. From "Pacific Asia", Taiwan placed second in the 1969 and 1970 Bermuda Bowls; China won the Venice Cup in 2009; Indonesia placed second in the 2005 and 2007 Senior Bowls. From "South Pacific", practically Australia and New Zealand, the only medalists have been Australia 1971 and 1979, third in the Bermuda Bowl.

From 1988 the Far East Bridge Federation (FEBF), later Pacific Asia Bridge Federation (PABF), does not schedule national teams championships in Olympic years.

PABF championships
Recently there is a distinct Zone 7 (South Pacific) championship in odd years, according to International Programme 2009 2012. New Zealand Contract Bridge Federation (NZCBA). Retrieved 2011-10-03. (2009 and 2011 Zone 7 Championships appear on this 4-year list of tournaments where representative teams will be funded.)

websearch
(schedule at Bridge in India)CUBABRIDGE 2011
 * CACBF 2011
 * Zone 5 teams May 24 28 Havana Cuba (sched 9 round-robin, 3-session SF, 4-session F)

Oddly, I find no mention of Zone 4 or BFAME at Bridge In India:
 * BFAME

(from AUS)schedule posted by Akarana club (NZ ?),
 * PABF 2009
 * (presumably Open, or any field with 13 or 14 entries) 8 days double round-robin 13 (implies 13 or 14), 4-session Zonal Playoff 1, 3-session Zonal Playoff 2

(from AUS)
 * Australia 1st U26 (photo), 5th U21

(from HKG)
 * U21 double round-robin, two-segment 32-board matches

(list of links at Bridge in India) —broken links to session-by-session pages at http://www.nzbridgecongress.co.nz/
 * PABF 2010
 * Open, double round-robin 13 (implies 13 or 14 entries)
 * Women, round-robin 13 (implies 13 or 14 entries) and 12-session Final(!)
 * Senior, round-robin 13(?) and round-robin 9 (13 or 14? or 9 or 10 entries)
 * Junior, double round-robin 10 (impossible?) and 6-session Final
 * Youngster, double round-robin 10(?), round-robin 3, and 3-session Final

(from AUS)
 * PABF 2011
 * Australia 4th U26, 1st U21 (photo)

Age limits for world youth bridge change on 1/1/2011. This is a one year difference from previous rules. We expect (but don't know) that the PABF Championships age limits will probably copy the WBF change.
 * AGE LIMITS (same ??)
 * The World U26 Teams in 2012 will be for those born in 1987 or later.
 * The World U21 Teams in 2012 will be for those born in 1992 or later.

BFAME championships
The 14th to 16th BFAME Teams, 2007 to 2011, are covered online.

The only Far East champions from "Asia and the Middle East" were India 1977 open and India 1978 women. At that time Pakistan forfeited a walkover in every match vs Taiwan.

The 2007 tournaments culminated in a 5-session OPEN final and 3-session Women and Seniors finals. For 2009 only two sessions were scheduled for each final match and it appears that the Seniors played only one. BFAME qualifies two teams to each flight of the World Teams, so the two finalists play for regional honors only.

With five entries in 2007 and six Open entries in 2011, there was a triple round-robin followed by the final match between the round-robin leaders. With nine entries in 2009, there was a double round-robin (six days) followed by long 6-session semifinals to determine the Bermuda Bowl representatives (two days), followed by the short final (one day).

World participants
At the latest World Youth Teams, there were nine entries from the zones featured here. There were five among 17 entries in the Juniors (open u-26): China won the bronze medal, Australia placed 5th/8th, Japan 13, India 14, and Hong Kong 16 among 17 entries. There were three among 16 entries in the Youngsters (open u-21): China placed 5th/8th, Chinese Taipei 13, Australia 14. In the Girls (female u-26), China placed third of four.