The Quarterfinals ended with USA 1 exciting the tournament.  USA 1 dug a hole for themselves in the 5th (of 6th) segment and required a 52 imp comeback to continue into the semifinals.  Half way through the final segment, USA 1 was within 10 Imps!  But, alas, the Brits were too strong to overcome.  Congrats to England for playing a tough match and being “the last man standing” at the end of the 96 board match.  Although disappointed, we are all looking forward to sleeping in our own beds in two days!  Wow…What a long way home.

For those who are waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding the 5th pair, the team lost yesterday so the immediacy is gone. In time, all of the facts regarding both the Polish Pair and the “unnamed” pair will be released and, if required, hopefully medals will be adjusted.  It’s amazing to me that in the very first press conference by the WBF, both the President and Past President stated that the burden is on the players to monitor fellow competitors and bring the information to the administrators.  Over the last 10 days, many, many players have recounted stories of recorder forms and formal complaints being made against all 5 of these pairs for the last 15 years (BTW – Many many Organizations, not just the WBF)…so why has nothing been done until now and why does it seem like it is taking forever to take care of the last two teams? When talking to high level officials, there is a sense of sympathy towards the cheaters.  From several sources, it is apparent that some very powerful people feel that cheating is part of the game.  Really?!?!

Now, I don’t write this to accuse anyone of anything. It is just to make the point that until the mindset of cheating at the very top is changed, we will continue to be baffled by the almost “dragging of the feet” we have witnessed in the last 3 weeks.  I am attorney and I understand people (even cheaters) have rights and there are definitely legal obligations on behalf of all of the organizations to handle the situations to insure no one’s rights are infringed.  It is my understanding, that the Organizations have already receive notice of many lawsuits filed against them in all of these matters. Earlier in the week, I was told that since everyone is talking about it, the cheating will stop.  Well, this hypothesis was disapproved by the 5th pair just this week!  IMO, when the evidence is clear, I don’t understand allowing yet another Championship to be tainted by cheaters.  There must be some middle ground.  As I mentioned earlier in one of my posts, this issue hits very close to home due to how the WBF handled the German Coughing Doctors.  The doctors almost got away, as would all of these pairs had Boye et al not taken a personal interest in uncovering them.

Well, enough on cheating for now.  I’ll keep you posted when there are updates.

The good news for the USA Teams is that USA 2 continues into the Semifinals of the Venice Cup, while both USA 1 and 2 enter the semifinals in the D’Orsi Bowl.

Bermuda Bowl Semifinal Match-Ups:
USA 2 vs Sweden
England vs Poland

Venice Cup Semifinal Match-Ups:
France vs England
USA 2 vs Netherlands

D’Orsi Bowl Semifinal Match-Ups:
USA 1 vs USA 2
Sweden vs Poland

I will be back with my regularly schedule programs talking about Defensive Signals and answering questions from the tournament trail.  Next week I will be in Torrence, California.  Be sure to say hi if you see me!  Feel free to send your questions to Donna@playbetterbridge.com and I’ll post them here!  All questions are posted anonymously.

FYI: The October 7th FREE Webinar on “Defend These Hands with Me” has been rescheduled to October 14th since I will be somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean during the original scheduled time. The Webinar is from 11am-1pm New York Time. Click Here to Sign Up!