At its meeting in Sanya, the WBF Executive Committee awarded the Gold Medal for the 2013 Senior Bowl to USA2, after finding that the German team should be disqualified because two of its players had cheated. Congratulations to the Lynch team for both discovering how the German players were cheating and their strong play in the entire Senior Bowl in Bali last year.
The 2014 SPORTACCORD World MindGames Tournament will be held in Beijing from December 10-17. The USBF teams will be:
Open Team - Huub Bertens & Curtis Cheek, Vince Demuy & John Kranyak and Justin Lall & Roger Lee.
Women's team - Cheri Bjerkan & Pam Wittes, Lynn Deas & Disa Eythorsdottir and Irina Levitina & Kerri Sanborn.
SportAccord also holds an online tournament, which will run from September 15 - November 15. For more information about that event and how to enter, see the Press Release announcing the event and the website for the event, where you can find information about format, prizes and how to enter.
Congratulations to USA1 for winning the Silver Medal in the Damiani Cup (Under 21) in the 2014 World Youth Teams Championship. Ben Christensen, Nolan Chang, Chris Huber, Oren Kriegel, Kevin Rosenberg & Cole Spencer finished the qualifying Round Robin in fifth place. They defeated China by 13 IMPs in the Quarterfinals (having started 11 IMPs behind as a result of their loss to China in the Round Robin). They defeated France by 20.5 IMPs, having started 4.5 IMPs ahead as a result of defeating France in the Round Robin.
In the final, USA2 played Sweden, who had won the Round Robin, defeatied the Netherlands by 41 in the Quarterfinal and Norway by 75 in the Semifinal. At the half in the Final, USA1 led by 15 IMPs on the strength of a very strong third segment. Sweden came on strong in the 4th and 5th sets, to lead by 52.5 after 5 of 6 segments. The teams played even in the final segment, so Sweden won the match and the gold medal.
Kevin Rosenberg, Oren Kriegel, Ben Kristensen & Chris Huber, who won the USA1 spot at the 2014 Junior USBC.
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Nolan Chang & Cole Spencer were added to the team for the WYTC.
US teams finished 5-8 in the Ortiz-Patiño Cup (Under 26) and the Rona Cup (Women Under 26), and ended the Round Robin in 10th (U21) and 12th (U26) places after the Round Robin.
In the Board-A-Match teams, five of the USA1 Under 26 team won Gold. Congratulations to Zach Brescoll, Adam & Zach Grossack, Adam Kaplan, Owen Lien and new teammate from Sweden Adam Stokka.
Statement from USBF President re Buffett Cup
This statement is in response to recent correspondence about the role of the USBF in the 2014 Buffett Cup. Bob Hamman has been the US organizer of the Buffett Cup since its inception. Last year, Bob asked the USBF Board to take over organizing the Buffett Cup, including funding and team selection. The Board indicated it would seriously consider this, and George Jacobs, then USBF President, asked non-Board members Jill Levin and Warren Spector to investigate what would be involved and report back to the Board.
This March, Bob, Jill & Warren asked the USBF Board to fund the US team’s business class air travel to the 2014 Buffett Cup. On March 13th the Board agreed to fund these expenses only if we had material input on team selection. George Jacobs appointed two Board member representatives to meet with Jill and Warren to discuss team selection. Despite Bob, Jill, and Warren's considerable efforts, it quickly became clear there had been a major communications disconnect between them and the USBF Board when, at a telephone meeting on March 16, our Board representatives were told the team had already been chosen with no Board input. On March 18, a second telephone meeting was held but the original committee and the USBF Board representatives could not reach agreement.
The Board’s issues were with the process of team selection. Attempts to find a solution amenable to all parties, including the top pairs, failed, and on April 10th, the USBF Board rescinded its March 13th resolution to provide funding to the Buffett Cup team. The Board’s April 10th resolution has been posted on our website for the last two months.
Less than one month passed from the time we voted to fund business class airfare until the time we formally rescinded that funding. The potential for funding withdrawal was communicated to Bob within a week after initial funding was approved, and well before the formal rescission of funding.
Howard Weinstein
President, USBF
Note: In his e-mail response to Paul Hackett, Jean-Charles Allavena made reference to (Monaco) being victimized yet once again by the USBF. It is unclear what he is referencing, but it may include the Vanderbilt ruling from a couple of years ago and/or the issue with entry deadlines from last summer's Spingold. The USBF had absolutely nothing to do with these perceived affronts to Monaco. Also, any Buffett Cup issues from two years ago had nothing to do with the USBF, which had no role in the event. If there is another affront which may actually be attributable to the USBF, hopefully Jean-Charles will enlighten the USBF.