Ton Bakkeren is a financial controller and lives in Oisterwijk, a nice little town in the south of the Netherlands.

Ton is currently the no 2 ranked player in the Netherlands and has won four Dutch teams titles. Furthermore, he has won (amongst other) the Cavendish Calcutta in 2006, The NEC Cup 2007 and the White House Tournament 2007. In 2005 he won the European open teams championships. In Shanghai he will be playing his second Bermuda Bowl.

Huub Bertens works as an employee for a medical company. He lives in Tilburg, in the south, with Jeanne van den Meiracker, the Dutch top TD also present in Shanghai. He has a daughter Linda (15) and a son Eric (12).

When not working, apart from bridge Huub plays all sorts of games. It will be tough to beat him in whatever game you play because he is always willing to win.

Huub is the no 1 ranked player in the Netherlands and has won six Dutch open teams titles. In 2005 he won the European open teams championships. Furthermore, he has won (amongst other) the Cavendish Calcutta in 2006, The NEC Cup 2007 and the White House Tournament 2007. In Shanghai he will be playing his second Bermuda Bowl.

Sjoert is the Benjamin of the team and only 26 years old. He lives in Rotterdam and has a son called Daan (3). Sjoert is working for the municipality of Rotterdam and even uses his lunch breaks to discuss bridge with his partner Bas, who works in the same building.

He won silver medals in the European Championships with the Dutch schools team in 1998, the juniors in 2000 and also in the 2004 Olympiad, and a bronze medal in the European open teams 2007.

Like his partner Sjoert, Bas is living in Rotterdam. He is married to Femmy Boelaars and together they have a daughter Emma (3). He is a lawyer and finished his studies with an essay on decisions of appeals committees during recent international championships.

For his achievements see Sjoert Brink; although not always being his partner, he was in the same team winning the medals.

Bauke Muller is the most experienced player in the team and the only remaining member of the team that won the Bermuda Bowl in Chile 1993. He lives in Hoorn in the province North Holland and is married to Maria Hayer; they have one daughter Rianne (18). Bauke is psychologist in the Centre for Work and Income.

Apart from his world title Bauke has won a bronze medal at the 1992 Olympiad, bronze in the Transnational open teams in 2003, a gold medal at the European open teams in 2005 and, most recently, another bronze at the 2007 European open.

He won six Dutch teams championships. Shanghai will be his third Bermuda Bowl.

Simon de Wijs is a software consultant and lives in Doorn, a small village in the middle of the country. He is married to Marsha Agteres and they have two daughters (Sarah and Lotte, a twin being 2 years old) and a son Job (1).

His free time, which is not much having three young children, Simon likes to spend playing poker or reading.

Simon won the European open teams in 2005, got a bronze medal in 2007 and has three Dutch team titles. Shanghai will be his second Bermuda Bowl.

Eric Laurant used to own a software company but has now retired which gives him plenty of time to spend in bridge. Since two years he is npc and manager of the open team and since one year also the national head coach. He lives in Overasselt, a very small village in the southeast, is married to Nancy and they have two daughters.

If he has any time left you will find him on the golf course.

Apart from being the coach of the open team, Anton has a job as financial advisor. He lives in Amstelveen (close to Amsterdam) with his wife Bep Vriend.

Anton has played several times in the Dutch open team since 1980. He won bronze in the 1980 Olympiad, bronze in the European Championships 1995 and reached the quarterfinal of the Rosenblum in 1998.

Furthermore, he won the European mixed teams in 1994, the European mixed pairs in 2003 and is ten times Dutch teams champion. Since long, he is the number 2 in the Dutch masterpoints list, way behind Hans Kreijns, World Pairs Champion 1966.