Results
- List "to date" [4]
The World Bridge Federation calls the World Youth Congress—biennial in odd years, getting underway in 2009 and 2011— "the generalization of the World Youth Pairs Championships, inaugurated in Ghent, Belgium in 1995"—referring to the 'Juniors Pairs' which expanded to plural 'Youth' championships with Juniors and Youngsters flights in 2006. [5]
The Youngsters event is sometimes called "Schools", as it was called in Europe. In fact a Schools championship was officially part of the 2003 Junior Pairs: the Schools medalists were the first three eligible pairs in the unified field. [6]
Current definitions of u-26 and u-21 players may have evolved during the history of the WBF youth program but such details are not covered here. (The previous reference calls the Schools "up to 20" which suggests a difference.)
Juniors
The first official world champions, Geir Helgemo and Boye Brogeland of Norway, were the most successful in Open play through 2011. Helgemo had already played on Norway's second-place open team in 1993, and both would play in the Bermuda Bowls 1997 to 2007, as Norway placed third, fourth, second, fourth, out of the money, and finally first. [7]
For the first rendition as a WBF event, European pairs held the first 44 places, except only one France—Guadeloupe pair in 25th place.
| Year, Site, Entries | Medalists | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 [8] Ghent, Belgium | 1. |  Boye Brogeland | Geir Helgemo |
| 2. | Thomas Charlsen | Espen Erichsen | |
| 3. |  Mik Kristensen | Morten Lund Madsen | |
| 1997 [9] Santa Sofia, Italy | 1. |  Stefan Solbrand | Olle Wademark |
| 2. | Mette Drøgemüller |  Sebastian Reim | |
| 3. | Boye Brogeland | Trond Hantveit | |
| 1999 [10] Nymburk, Czech Republic | 1. |  Andreas Gloyer | Bernd Saurer |
| 2. |  Félicien Daux | Julien Geitner | |
| 3. |  Bernardo Biondo | Francesco Mazzadi | |
| 2001 [11] Stargard, Poland | 1. | Andreas Gloyer | Martin Schifko |
| 2. |  Sjoert Brink | Bas Drijver | |
| 3. | Fabio Lo Presti | Francesco Mazzadi | |
| 2003 [12] Tata, Hungary | 1. |  Adi Azizi | Yuval Yener |
| 2. | Guillaume Grenthe | Jérôme Grenthe | |
| 3. | Bas Drijver | Bob Drijver | |
| 2006 [13] Piešťany, Slovakia | 1. | Cecilia Rimstedt | Sara Sivelind |
| 2. |  Jacek Kalita | Krzysztof Kotorowicz | |
| 3. | Marion Michielsen | Vincent de Pagter | |
| After 2006 the European Youth Pairs resumed as a distinct meet conducted in even years. | |||
| Beginning 2009 the World Youth Pairs became part of a "Youth Congress" including teams events. | |||
| 2009 [14] [15] Istanbul, Turkey | 1. | Marion Michielsen | Tim Verbeek |
| 2. | Adam Krysa | Justyna Zmuda | |
| 3. | Aymeric Lebatteux | Nicolas Lhuissier | |
| 2011 [2] Opatija, Croatia | 1. | Berend van den Bos | Joris van Lankveld |
| 2. | Aymeric Lebatteux | Simon Poulat | |
| 3. |  Marius Agica |  Radu Nistor | |
| 2013 [16] Atlanta, USA | 1. | Massimiliano Di Franco | Gabriele Zanasi |
| 2. |  Erkmen Aydogdu | Akin Koclar | |
| 3. | Alex Prairie | Sylvia Shi | |
- *The 2003 field of 189 pairs included the under-21 stratum covered below.
After 2006 the European Youth Pairs Championships were rejuvenated as a separate event, contested in even-number years, now restricted to European national pairs (two players from the same EBL member). European pairs had won all of the medals in six renditions of the world event, with only one transnational pair among the 18 medalists (1997 silver), and they have continued to win at the world level. [17]
The "World" event is now contested in odd years at the World Youth Bridge Congress.
Officially the 2006 and 2009 events are now the 6th and 7th in the Junior MP Pairs series. The 2009 events were reported as part of the "1st World Youth Congress", [15] much as the 2008 and 2010 events were reported as part of the 1st World Mind Sports Games and the World Bridge Series.
- [quote] The 1st World Youth Bridge Congress was held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 15 to 23 August 2009, hosted at the Yeditepe University. Young players from all member countries of the World Bridge Federation were invited to participate in this new competition, designed to be a massive event. Accordingly, transnational combinations were allowed in all events, and there were no restrictions on the number of players who could participate from any single country.
- The new congress included various teams and pairs competitions. Teams were played according to the Swiss format, as well as Board-A-match. There were Match Point and IMP pairs. The championships were open to players born in 1984 or later (Under-26), while it was intended that players born in 1989 or later would form a separate category (Under-21) in all events, if the entry was sufficient.
- The World Youth Pairs Championships have been discontinued, as they are now included in the World Youth Congress. [15]
Youngsters
The 2003 "Schools" medalists were the highest ranking eligible pairs in the unified field. They ranked 5, 21, and 37 among the 189 Juniors pairs from 27 countries. [6] About one quarter of the field was eligible for the Schools medals. [18]
In 2006 there were 210 Juniors pairs from 34 countries in 5 of 8 world zones. The Schools pairs competed separately for the first time, which the WBF calls the first championship in its Youngsters category. Six of the top twelve pairs were from Poland including the gold and silver medalists. [18]
| Year, Site, Entries | Medalists | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 [6]
| 1. | Jacco Hop | Vincent de Pagter |
| 2. |  Agustin Madala |  Shivam Shah | |
| 3. | Jean-Francois Grias | Romain Tembouret | |
| 2006 [18]
| 1. | Bartlomiej Igla | Artur Machno |
| 2. | Andrzej Bernatowicz | Jan Betley | |
| 3. | Pierre Franceschetti | Andrea Landry | |
| 2009, Istanbul (evidently there were too few under-21 entries)[ citation needed ] | |||
| 2011, Opatija (evidently there were too few under-21 entries) | |||
| 2013 [16] Atlanta, USA | 1. | Allison Hunt | Asya Ladyzhensky |
| 2. | Andrew Jeng | Richard Jeng | |
| 3. |  Tianyi Jin | Kai Jin | |
| 2013
| 1. | Giorgia Botta | Margherita Chavarria |
| 2. |  Karla De Jesus | Adriana Suarez | |
| 3. | Julie Arbit | Isha Thapa | |
Contemporary reporting calls the Schools stratum in 2003 and Schools flight in 2006 successful, with 40-odd and 68 participants. [18] Yet WBF lists only the single official rendition in 2006. [13] The 2009 Congress homepage implies that entries by Youngsters must have been too few. [15]
With merely 61 entries, the 2011 Junior Pairs is smaller than the separate event for Youngsters in 2006, when the two flights saw 142 and 68 pairs.
