On March 31st, the McCallum Cup Women Swiss Team Competition at the Spring North American Bridge Championship (NABC) came to a close in Dallas, Unites States.  The Chinese women’s team swept the gold and silver medals in the Women’s Team Competition, and a teacher from Lishui RTVU named Zhou Lihua, representing the first Chinese women’s team to compete in the event, won second place, and partnered with Shen Qi to win the gold medal in the Open Pairs Competition.

Lishui RTVU teacher Zhou Lihua (first left) represents first Chinese women’s team to compete, winning second place 

Zhou Lihua (first left) and Shen Qi win Open Pairs Championship

This year, 24 teams from around the world took part in the McCallum Cup Women’s Swiss Team Competition at the spring NABC, and China sent two teams to participate. The first team was comprised of Wang Wenfei, Ran Jingrong, Shen Qi, Zhou Lihua, Wang Hongli and Lu Yan, and the second team included Huang Yan, Li Yiting, Gan Ling, Hu Wen, Wang Yanhong and Li Lixuan. The 12 teams entered into the finals, and through six rounds of fierce competition, the second team gained 93 points to rank first and win the championship; the first team lost by a single point to finish runner-up. Otherwise, Zhou Lihua and Shen Qi won the Stratified Open Pairs Championship, while Wang Wenfei and Ran Jingrong won the White Head Women Pairs Championship.  

It is reported that the Chinesea women’s team will continue their concerted efforts, stepping up their preparations for the World Bridge Series Championships which will be held in October this year at Sanya in Hainan Province.

Ms. Zhou Lihua joined Lishui RTVU after earning her bachelor’s degree in electric automation major from Zhejiang University of Technology in 1985. While at the university, she taught classes, constructed laboratories and managed the curriculum of electric and computer application subjects. She now holds a concurrent post of Vice Chairman of the Trade Union of Lishui RTVU. She began studying bridge in 1986, joined Lishui City team in 1987, as well as the Zhejiang youth and provincial women’s teams. Her successful play on the Zhejiang women’s bridge team, Locomotive SF and Hubei women’s bridge team led to more than ten championships and runners-up awards in the National Associations Cup, National Championships and All-China Games.   

She joined the Chinese national women’s bridge training team in January 2014. On March 22nd, as a member of the first international Chinese women’s bridge team, she participated in the North American Bridge Spring Competition in Dallas, winning one gold and one silver medal. 

The NABC are a major competitive event in North America organized by the ACBL. It is held three times a year, and is accepted universally as one of the top international bridge competitions, perhaps second only to the World Bridge Championship. The NABC attracts a large number of top amateurs, as well as bridge stars from North American and various European countries. Representing China, there were two national women’s teams and another three club teams. 

By Chen Xiaochu, Lishui RTVU