Qriousbridge 奇譯橋憶: 2025 Yeh Mixed Cup @HK [English]

Besides food, it’s time to add a bridge post too 😜.
This time, I had the rare opportunity to team up with the Korean Open Team—special thanks to KF Mak for the introduction, huge thanks to the two ladies for giving me this precious opportunity, and big appreciation to all my male partners for the smooth and enjoyable collaboration throughout 🤗

——

The Korean Open Team is made up of 4 young male players: Daehong Kim, Seongseok Kang, Seungjin Roh, and Sooik Lee. They’ve been a rising force in Asia for a few years now, and made their breakthrough by reaching the quarterfinals at the World Championship in Argentina last November! With their long-time supporters Hyemin Oh and Hyeyoung Kim, they originally had 4 men and 2 women, just enough for a Mixed Team to play in the Yeh Mixed Cup. However, the ladies preferred to rotate and rest to stay at their best, so it turned into a 3-men, 3-women lineup—which gave me the honor of joining the team!

I heard the guys drew lots to decide who would be the “non-playing captain” this time. All of them still came to Hong Kong, but the one chosen had to buy drinks, take photos, run errands, go shopping, zone out, and nap… “So is being the non-playing captain lucky or unlucky?” Sounds kind of nice, no? “Of course it’s unlucky!” they all answered in unison. “They all wanted to play with you 🤭” Oh my, you guys are too kind 😅

——

The Yeh Mixed Team event consisted of 10 rounds of Swiss over 2 days, with the top 4 advancing to the final day for semifinals and finals. The rest of the teams played 4 more rounds of Swiss. With a championship prize of HK$80,000 and a win bonus of HK$400 per match, it was definitely a competitive yet fun tournament!

I quietly set a small goal of “average score” for myself—but to be honest, I wasn’t too confident in my ability to assess either our team’s overall strength or the full field of participants. Before the event, I was told our chances to qualify were “50/50.” Hmm 🤔 — very optimistic 😂

In the end, we had 3 wins, 1 tie, and 6 losses, scoring 102 VPs—right on target. We ranked 12th out of 24, just making the top half. Although we lost more matches than we won, 2 of the losses were by just 1 IMP—not a big deal, except we missed out on the win bonus 🤣. Still, we pulled through after starting with four straight losses, and finished strong with a 20:0 sweep over the Singapore Mixed Team. From a low start to a high finish—it was the perfect embodiment of “Never Give Up”!