SiVY Kids Take Bronze in International
Competition
USA Under 16 team, left to right Harrison Luba, NPC Jim Munday, Michael Xu, Jonathan Yue, Arthur Zhou, Michael Hu, Rory Xiao We are proud to announce that the US Under 16 team captured third place at the World Youth Bridge Teams Championships held in Wujiang, China this past August. The six- player team included SiVY members Michael Hu, Arthur Zhou, Rory Xiao, Jonathan Yue, and Michael Xu. They, along with Harrison Luba of Boston, won the bronze, the only medal earned by the US contingent at this championship.
The U16 event kicked off with five days of Round Robin competition between the eighteen teams entered. At the end of the complete Round Robin, eight teams qualified for quarter-finals. USA placed 1st in the round robin, then won a close quarter-final match against a team from China. They then lost a close semi-final match to France, before besting Sweden in the bronze medal playoff, in yet another nail-biter.
Check out this excellent article, capturing the excitement of the event, written by their coach and team captain Jim Munday for the November 2018 ACBL Bulletin.
Michael Hu of San Jose and Rory Xiao of Fremont are original SiVY members, both having attended the very first SiVY Pizza Party in May 2013. Arthur Zhou of San Jose learned bridge in the beginners' group at SiVY's first summer camp in 2014. Michael Xu of Palo Alto got started with the basics by attending SiVY pizza parties, which his mom heard about from a friend. Jonathan Yue of San Jose learned bridge in Shanghai, and found SiVY shortly after his family moved to the US in 2015. All of the players participate regularly in both SiVY events and the US Bridge Federation's online training program. They are current high school students, and most are extremely active in teaching bridge to other students.
As reported in our August newsletter, a total of thirteen players from the Bay Area competed at World Youth in China. The Under 21 team also included five SiVY members, Brent Xiao, Kevin Huang, Cornelius Duffie, Stella Wan and Sarah Youngquist (their sixth was Richard Jeng of Atlanta). There were twenty-two teams entered in the Under 21 category, and after six days of Round Robin play, the US team finished in a heartbreaking 9th place, with eight teams qualifying for knockouts. Disappointing for sure, yet given that this was their first international bridge competition, a fine performance by our SiVY players. They'll be back!
In the Under 26 category, USAI, including Bay Area players Kevin Rosenberg and Adam Kaplan, dominated the Round Robin phase, than lost to Singapore on the very last board of the quarter-finals. Singapore went on to win the silver medal, losing to Sweden in the final. USA2, which included William Zhu of San Francisco, placed 3rd in the Round Robin, then also lost a close quarter-final match. The US Rona Cup team (women Under 26) qualified for the knockout stage, but alas, also lost in the quarter-finals.
Of note: none of the medal winning Under 16 team is eligible for that category next time. That leaves the field in that category wide open for our more competitive younger players. If you were born in 2005 or later, and are ready to get more serious about bridge, this could be you! Anyone born in 1995 or later will be eligible for U26, and 2000 or later is eligible for U21.
It was a fantastic experience for our young bridge players, who are already working to sharpen their skills, and do even better next time. The next US Junior Trials will take place late in 2019, qualifying teams for the 2020 World Youth Team Championships, a biennial event. We are confident that there will once again be SiVY players representing the US.
Members of the US Under 21 team (seated) hanging out at the opening ceremony with friends from the Canadian team (standing)
Jonathan Yue is all smiles
Kevin Rosenberg checks results with U16 team
U21 NPC Sylvia Shi, Sarah Youngquist, and Stella Wan.
(Background) World Champion Michael Rosenberg, NPC of the USAI U26 team and organizer of the USBF Junior Training Program
