Media Release

The Australian Youth Bridge Team concluded a successful overseas tour last night in Wuhan, China with an amazing come-from-behind victory in the Asia Pacific Bridge Federation Youth Championships to overtake the host country in the final round to take Gold.

Seemingly out of contention mid-way through the second round-robin after disappointing losses to Chinese Taipei, Japan and Singapore, the Australians rallied in their next three matches with victories against Hong Kong, Indonesia and Thailand to get within striking distance of run-away leaders China against whom a 15-point victory was needed in the final match to leapfrog into first place.

The match went down to the wire with China having an opportunity to regain the lead on the second last hand of the event had the defense of Lauren Travis and Ellena Moskovsky faltered, but Lauren Travis found the killing opening lead and backed it up with the necessary switch to her singleton spade in the mid-game to seal China’s fate with an eventual 32-point win.

The match was broadcast live on the internet with about 1,000 viewers on the edge of their seats. The victory comes on the back of strong performances in the World Youth Open Championships in Atlanta, USA earlier in August where Australia won Silver medals in both the Knock-Out teams and the Board-A-Match teams.

The Australian team is made up of Max Henbest (Victoria), Peter Hollands (Victoria), Justin Howard (Victoria), Nathan Howard (Victoria), Ellena Moskovsky (Victoria) and Lauren Travis (South Australia) together with non-playing captains Ishmael Del’Monte (New South Wales) and Grant Kilvington (Victoria).

The victorious team will be arriving back from China at Melbourne Airport at 8:40am on Tuesday, 27 August 2013 and bridge fans are encouraged to head out to the airport to give them a warm welcome home. The team will also be available in the international arrivals area for media interviews and photo opportunities.

Media and other enquires may be directed to David Thompson, National Youth Coordinator, on 0417 526 331.

Keith McDonald
President
Australian Bridge Federation
26 August