You may have heard that the World Bridge Federation has been invited to the Olympic Esports Week (“OEW”) in Singapore, June 19-25, organized by the International Olympic Committee.
The WBF, together with the platform providers BBO and Funbridge, will have a pavilion at the Free-To-Play Zone (“FTPZ”) the IOC is providing, June 22-25, for a limited number (10-15) of its recognised “International Federations” during the OEW. It is a great achievement and honour for Bridge to have been selected as one of them, to showcase our progress and activities in the field of electronic sports. The FTPZ will be a large exposition at the Suntec Convention Centre, and tens of thousands of visitors are expected. It is an important opportunity for all of us, NBOs as well as the WBF, to showcase Bridge as a modern sport – adopting the latest technology, including Artificial Intelligence. At our pavilion we will live-stream tournaments on both platforms with both local and international competitors, provide “Minibridge” demonstrations, show play on Lovebridge tablets on site and various other promotional activities. Many activities can be followed online on YouTube, and possibly Twitch. Leading up to the tournaments in Singapore we are arranging qualification events on both BBO and Funbridge and would appreciate it if you would promote these through all your channels of communication including social media, NBO bulletins and website, event flyers and direct mailings.
Attached you will find the detailed format of these qualifying events. The overall winner on each platform will be invited (travel and accommodation) to the Transnational week (August 28 – September 2) during the World Championships in Marrakech, and there will be a ranking by country with prizes in the form of the platforms’ “currencies”.
You may also be aware that Bridge is an official sport in the upcoming Asian Games.
We thank you for your cooperation in this effort, which we believe can bring substantial benefits to the whole bridge community. However, nothing will be gained if we don’t actively make use of all these promotional tools at all levels.
Jan Kamras José Damiani
President, World Bridge Federation WBF President Emeritus