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Bridge
Federation of Asia & Middle East |
La
Bridge Federation of Asia & Middel East è
stata fondata nel 1979 per amministrare il bridge nella Zona 4 della WBF
e nel 1996 furono aggregati ai Paesi affiliati anche quelli africani così che
la Federazione prese il nome di "Bridge Federation of Asia, Africa &
Middle East" (BFAAME).
Dal
2000, i Paesi africani formarono una Federazione a se stante e la WBF
creò per essi la Zona 8, così che la BFAME torno al suo nome
originale.
L'attuale Presidente della
BFAME
è
Ghassan GHANEM
che risiede ad Annam in Giordania, i Paesi
membri sono 13 e contano oltre 9.000 iscritti.
"Organizations
are not made, but grow" aptly describes the evolutionary process of the WBF
Zone 4 and its ZC, the Bridge Federation of
Asia
& the Middle East (BFAME). It all started in 1977 when, having earmarked
the geographical area West of the
Bay of Bengal to the Mediterranean and designating it as Zone 4, the WBF
Executive Council assigned the task of uniting the NBOs of the aforesaid
jurisdictional territory into a ZC to the then Co-Chairman of the WBF Zoning
Committee, the late James O'Sullivan of Australia.
Upon effective contacts with the NBO of Bangladesh,
India
,
Pakistan
and
Sri Lanka
, the genial and duty-conscious WBF Zoning Committee Co-Chairman provisionally
commissioned Zone 4 and its ZC, later christened as the Bridge Federation of
Asia & the
Middle East
, at a meeting held in November 1978 at Maurya Sheraton Hotel New Delhi, India.
It was also at this meeting that the BFAME officers were appointed.
After nearly a year's hectic work by the BFAME Secretariat, the new zonal
federation submitted its application for the requisite approval of the WBF
Executive Council at its meeting held in
Rio de Janeiro
,
Brazil
in October 1979. The BFAME
Secretary, who presented the application in person, succeeded in securing
ratification of the BFAME subject to fulfilment of certain requirements of WBF
Constitution and By-Laws. However,
upon compliance with these requirements, the BFAME was accorded the status of a
ZC, in good standing, in the WBF Executive Council meetings held in Valkenburg,
Holland
, in September 1980.
Starting
as a toddling Zonal body with 4 NBOs having less than 5000 bridge players as
their registered members the BFAME has, over the last nearly 30 years, grown in
size and strength. At Present it has
within its folds NBOs 12 countries of South Asia, Middle East and
West Asia
with over 15,000 competitive bridge players as their members.
These are
Bahrain
,
Bangladesh
,
India
,
Jordan
,
Kuwait
,
Nepal
,
Pakistan
,
Palestine
,
Qatar
,
Saudi Arabia
,
Sri Lanka
, and
Syria
.
In 1993, pursuant to a resolution of BFAME Council, and upon approval of WBF
Executive Council, the geographical jurisdiction of Zone 4 was extended to the
continent of Africa and name of its Zonal Conference was modified from Bridge
Federation of Asia and the Middle East (BFAME) to Bridge Federation of Africa
Asia and the Middle East (BFAAME) with 22 member NBos.However,
subsequently in 2000, with the formation and commissioning of a new/separate
zone for the continent of
Africa
in accordance with the aspiration of the African NBOs – Zone 8 and its ZC
named as African Bridge Federation, BFAME reverted back to its original name and
jurisdictional area having 12 NBOs as its members.
The BFAME and BFAAME have sponsored and conducted 14 biennial Zonal
Championships successfully in 1981 in India, in 1983 in Mauritius, in 1985 in
Pakistan, in 1987 in Sri Lanka, in 1989 in Egypt, in 1991 in India, in 1993 in
Mauritius, in 1995 in Jordan, in 1997 in South Africa, in 1999 in Sri Lanka, in
2001 in Bahrain, in 2003 in Jordan, in 2005 in Bangladesh and in 2007, the last
14th in Karachi, Pakistan. While
the fourteen afore-mentioned championships will be described in some detail
hereunder, it is noteworthy that these championships were conducted in line with
international standards set by the WBF, inasmuch as there were proper Conditions
of Contest governing these championships and screens, Vu-graph and other
technical infrastructure were in operation.
Right from its inception, Zone 4, through its member NBOs and their
representative teams, has been regularly participating in annual WBF events -
Bermuda Bowl/Venice Cup World Championship, World Teams Olympiad and World
Bridge Championships, often acquitting themselves well.
It is, indeed, noteworthy that representative teams from
Pakistan
,
India
,
Egypt
and
South Africa
(now part of Zone-8) have distinguished themselves by emerging among front-rank
teams at world level. In this
context, performances of twice world championship runners-up celebrated
Pakistani team, of Indian team making excellent showing by reaching the
Semi-Finals of the 1988 World Teams Olympiad, of Egyptian team making its
presence felt in quarter-finals stage of 1992 World Teams Olympiad, of South
African Team qualifying for the quarter-finals of 1995 Bermuda Bowl and
resurgent Indian and Pakistani teams qualifying for the quarter-finals of 2001
Bermuda Bowl and 2004 World Teams Olympiad respectively.
This youngest of the WBF zones has all along had an effective liaison with the
WBF. It has been the best endeavour
of the zonal officers to adhere to and carry out the instructions and guidelines
of the WBF in letter and spirit. In
this regard, perhaps the most notable example is that, right from its inception,
BFAME/ BFAAME has been functioning under a proper Constitution and By-Laws,
which are closely modelled on those of the WBF.
In addition to the above, through its past President and now President Emeritus
who is a member of WBF Executive Council for the last 32 years and is also WBF
Vice-President since 1991, BFAME/Zone 4 has the distinction of making
substantial contribution towards the growth & progress of bridge worldwide
and the future wellbeing of the WBF and its member NBOs.
In this connection, institution of WBF Infrastructure Development
Programme and initiative for recognition of bridge as a sport by International
Olympic Committee (IOC) stand out.
