Robert Krochmalik learned to play bridge while at Sydney University in the mid‐1960s and then left the bridge scene while I studied to become a Chartered Accountant. I returned to play casually in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.
After leaving full time work and going into semi‐retirement I took up a more serious approach to the game and paired up with Paul Lavings with whom I have had considerable success over the past 18 years.
Together we have represented Australia at Open World Championships in 2012 and 2013 and also represented Australia in the Senior ranks in 2005, 2006, 2008 culminating in being a part of the winning Australian team at the APBF Seniors in Hong Kong in 2013. We were then part of the Australian Seniors team that played in the World championships in Wroclaw, Poland in 2016 beating the home country in the round of 16 before losing narrowly to the ultimate winners USA who had a team of world champions.
We won the Gold Coast Senior pairs in 2017, the Australian Open Senior teams and the Bobby Evans Senior teams in 2018, the Australian Senior Teams playoffs in 2019 making us part of the Australian Seniors team for the postponed World Championships originally schedule for 2020 in Italy and now proposed to be held in 2022.
Since 2019 Lavings and Krochmalik were winners of the inaugural NSW Veterans pairs in 2020 and were part of the winning NSW Senior teams in the Interstate Teams (ANC) and were part of the winning Seniors team that won the Zone 7 playoffs against New Zealand as we all as the Tri‐Nations Senior teams between Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia in December, 2021.
Robert still works part time as a forensic accountant and is married with three children (including a son Daniel who has been a member of the Australian Bridge Youth team at three World Championships) and eight grandchildren.
