foto by Silvia Valentini: Netherlands Sub21 Team
Buenos Aires, August 18th 2014
Today ended the Category U21 World Championship Round Robin and the first eight countries advanced to the KO stage.
Before the last Round there were several teams fighting to advance to the next stage, one of them was the Netherlands, at the eighth position, but the team had to face the strong Polish team that was already qualified. These are the moments where the winner character is molded.
Board 2, in the Open Room for the Netherlands in N/S was Tijssen and Sprinkhuiz, for Poland in E/W were Kryja- Krawczyk. The hand went unnoticed in this table:
East was the 3
declarer, South led the 
Q to North’s A, and declarer ended losing: one heart, two diamonds and one club, scoring +140.
In the Close Room in N/S for Poland were Marcinowsky- Sobczak and for the Netherlands in E/W were Donkersloot and Coppens; a partnership who knows how to punish every time that rivals stumble, let’s see:
East led his J to West’s A, who immediately cashed the 
A and the K to continue with another club ruffed by North. Declarer left his hand playing the Q to East’s K, who after winning the trick switched to a diamond. What followed was a nightmare.
The declarer won the trick with dummy’s 
J, and run the Q. East won with his K and played another diamond to dummy’s A, North played his K and next came the Q. East ruffed with his J and now declarer had to lose another trump for down four; 1,100 points for East / West.
Netherlands U21 finally achieved his first objective, to be among the top eight!