The 14th World Bridge Series will be held in Sanya, Hainan, China from 10th to 25th October 2014 hosted by the Chinese Contract Bridge Association (CCBA) in cooperation with Sanya City and Beijing Lianzhong Co., Ltd. This will be the first time that the World Bridge Series Championships have gone to a city outside Europe and America.
Gianarrigo Rona, President of World Bridge Federation (WBF), signed the contract with Xiang Huaicheng, the President of Chinese Contract Bridge Association (CCBA) on Wednesday July 24, 2013 in Beijing.
The World Bridge Series are a World Bridge Federation event, held every four years since 1962, in which are team and pairs tourneys for all the categories: seniors, open, women and mixed. In 201o the event took place in Philadelphia.
The main tournaments are the Rosenblum Cup (Open Team) and the McConnell Cup (Women’s Team).
The Open Team is called “Rosenblum Cup” in memory of Julius Rosenblum (1906-1978), WBF president 1970-1976. Julius Rosenblum has been in Neaples in 1951: he was the np captain of the US team that won the second Bermuda Bowl beating the European Champions (Blue Team).
The Women’s Team is called McConnell Cup. The name is in homage to a woman, Ruth McConnell (1918-2000). Ruth thought a women championship as important as the Bermuda Bowl: by her the Venice Cup was born in 1974. Ruth was the np captain of US team that won that first Venice Cup in May 1974.
The defending Champions are: Diamond (Usa) in Rosenblum Cup and Chinese Ladies (China) in McConnell Cup.
The only Italian clubs won a Rosenblum Cup were Angelini in 1998 in Lille, France (with Francesco Angelini, Andrea Buratti, Massimo Lanzarotti, Lorenzo Lauria, Antonio Sementa, Alfredo Versace) and Lavazza in 2002 in Montreal, Canada (with Norberto Bocchi, Giorgio Duboin, Guido Ferraro, Lorenzo Lauria, Alfredo Versace and npc Maria Teresa Lavazza).
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Originally posted July 27, 2013