Chinese Taipei delegate David Chu generously sponsored a Sportsmanship Award, which was presented to the Pakistan team before the final round of qualifying yesterday. The prize was in the form of bridge books and games from Nick Fahrer's The Bridge Shop, Sydney.

The Pakistan team only discovered that they were invited to this Championship a couple of weeks before it began and only received their visas the day before travelling. Having only been playing for a few months, it was inevitable that they would struggle against other, more experienced, teams, but they have conducted themselves throughout in the way that we should all hope to do. We hope that they have enjoyed the experience and that we will see them again in the not too distant future at a World Youth Championship.

The four semi-finalists were already decided before the last match of the round robin. Leading qualifiers Poland had the right to choose their semi-final opponents, and selected France, against whom they will start the 64-board semi-final with a 16 IMP carryover advantage from their round robin encounter. That leaves USA1 to play Canada in the second semi-final, also with a 16 IMP carry-over advantage.