Italy: winners of the World Bridge Olympiad		The Netherlands were second in the Olympiad

Four of the players who won the Open series of the World Bridge Olympiad for Italy have repeated as champions of the event with two new teammates. The Italians vanquished a young team from the Netherlands 310-251 to earn the title.

With the victory, Lorenzo Lauria overtook Bob Hamman for the No. 1 spot on the WBF masterpoints list. Hamman had held the top spot since 1985.

Lauria and three of his teammates in Istanbul – partner Alfredo Versace, plus Norberto Bocchi and Giorgio Duboin – were on the winning team in the 2000 Olympiad in Maastricht. Their new teammates are Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes.

In the World Transnational Mixed Teams, Sabine Auken, Zia Mahmood, Catherine D’Ovidio and Paul Chelma easily dispatched the Batov team from Bulgaria in the final, 173-82.

In the World University Teams Championship, Poland had a big win in their last match to grab victory. Belgium earned the silver medal, and USA took the bronze.