Three Days In

We arrive in Beijing on Wedensday evening to their brand new airport and are met by the welcoming desk and shuttled to the registration desk where of course they do not have my registration = problem with being efficient is that you take it so hard when it comes unstuck.

Having had a burglary at my home (2nd in 2 weeks) while on the plane I decide to race to the hotel to try and sort out what I can. I ask the hotel who are in attendance to write out a card with the name for the taxi driver - all sounds good? Um no. I spend the next 45 minutes going around in circles with a driver who had no clue whatsoever as to where the hotel was. The second cab managed to find it after asking in a few places.

I make the room and settle in for the night after making the necessary phone calls. Thursday is a relaxing day, a bit of work, sussing out the venue and surrounds. Now you should understand that the venue is within the Olympic precinct - in fact 500 metres from the Olympic Stadium (The Birdsnest) and Aquatic Centre (The Cube) not ideal in some senses but nice to be part of the venue all the same.

Friday and I have arranged a practice for whoever wants and run a 9 table 21 board session. The purpose of this is to acclimatise to the venue, screens, lighting, boards etc. and it goes well.

At 14:30 the captain's meeting where a lot of issues are clarified and then back to the hotel to ready for what had turned out to be the everchanging opening ceremony which finally becams cocktail party with canapes. Some priveleged people, including yours faithfully, were invited to the formal opening of the World Mind Sports Games which was held in the Olympic Gymnasium venue. Very much as one would expect for a formal opening.

So off to bed and ready for the first day of competition. I have been asked to captain the open team for the first 3 days which I happily agreed to. Disappointment strickes with two major losses to England (2-25) and Reunion (6-24). I am gutted by yet another slow start but have learned enough to keep up team spirits and move forward without dwelling on these situations. The team then manages a 20-10 win against Greece and being 29 off qualifying this early isn't in any way insurmountable.

In between all of this I have been doing VuGraf commentary in the theatre so am very tired but dinner with the team is important at this stage so I arrange a restaurant and off we march. Having had two days of Asian food the team opts for a Brazilian Churasco style grill which works out nicely for the big eaters in the team. I return to the hotel to check on the youth scores Under 28 running 42nd, Under 26 running 4th and Under 21 running 10th. The best of our teams seems to be our seniors running 2nd while the women are midway down the field in 9th place.

I will write more on my theories about Australian international performance another day as my fingers are sore and I need some sleep.

Happy bridging...
David