i Welcome Friends It gives me the greatest of pleasure to welcome all of you to Beijing This is no ordinary occasion As bridge and the other mind sports are paving their way towards Olympic recognition we are experiencing the unprecedented pleasure of welcoming young players from no fewer than  countries number of U teams entries representing all the continents and zones At the same time we will be holding our prime Youth events the competitions for the OrtizPatino and Damiani Trophies for young and younger players opening words by Panos Gerontopoulos x Important Notice Registration for the Pairs Players whose teams are involved in the knockout stages will all join the Pairs Championship providing that they have entered according to the requirements listed above that is not later than  pm on Wednesday th October Losing quarterfinalists will drop in to the Pairs at the semifinal stage all others directly to the final any two members of same NBO Teams coaches included born  or later