By Neto Baptiste
Antigua and Barbuda will host the next OECS Contract Bridge tournament slated for April 14-16 next year.
This is according to head of the Antigua Contract Bridge Association (ACBA), Deverel Forde, who said that over 100 individuals spanning close to or just over 10 countries could fly in for the tournament.
“We’re looking at about seven countries in the OECS and it’s likely that three other territories — Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados — may very well participate because the beautiful thing about bridge is that besides your tournament itself, which is OECS centered, it is also an open tournament so you could have people from the United States, England or international and regional people also can participate,” he said.
Forde, one of the founding members of the bridge association, said a number of things must now be put in place to ensure the 2023 event is a success, one of which is the provision of a safe environment from a health perspective.
“We will certainly need sponsorship in order to get the tournament off the ground because there are certain preparations that have to be made including a customary booklet that is produced by each territory every year and it basically continues the winners over the past 30 plus years, as well as mention of the sponsors and any bit of information you may want to put in about bridge,” he said.
The ACBA president, who is also a veteran player, said the body is also yet to finalise another key element regarding their planned hosting of the regional event.
“We have not identified a venue as yet but we are looking at possible Jolly Beach if we can get in there. The last time we hosted the tournament was in 2013 because it is rotational and, except for the three years where we were unable to play because of Covid, the last time we played was in 2013 and the venue was the Royal Antiguan,” Forde said.
Antigua was originally slated to host the tournament in 2020, but the event was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
