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Last week Toine van Hoof resigned timely as Technical-Director of the Dutch Bridge Federation. In that position he was responsible for the section topbridge. Van Hoof, who was only eight months in function, was scheduled to work as a staff member at the World Championships in October in Veldhoven, The Netherlands. Representatives of the Dutch Bridge Federation and Van Hoof him self decided not to reveal any information on this remarkable development and remain completely silent.
It is not clear if Van Hoof was forced to leave or that he took that decision himself. Gijs van der Scheer – Managing-Director of the bridgefed: “with Veldhoven approaching we are not waiting for a lot of noise. Though I can confirm that there is a difference of opinion on long term topsport policy.”
Eric Laurant, non playing captain of the Dutch open team and board member of the Dutch bridge fed, expresses himself according to similar lines on the matter. Though he does not see a direct link with the leave of Van Hoof generally speaking he has worries about the topbridge situation: “Bridge is under great pressure as to subsidies by our National Sport Federation. More and more they focus on Olympic sports and so far bridge is not.”
by Jan van Cleeff
source: IMP bridge Magazine