Belgium first up

Team pairings for the 2018 Chess Olympiad are out, and Papua New Guinea is up against Belgium in the first round. This is a repeat of the 2004 first round pairings for us, although at least this time we will be facing them with 4 players. Back in 2004 a couple PNG players failed to arrive and so we only played 3 games against them, defaulting the bottom board. We also played them in 2016 in the third round, and got 0 points again (even with the 4th player on board!)
Australia starts of against Qatar, while NZ play the Seychelles. In the Womens event Australia begin their campaign against UAE, while NZ is playing India on board 5.
In other Olympiad news, the PNG team ended up in its original accommodation, rather than being upgraded to the Hilton.This may not be a bad thing as where we are staying is quite nice and relaxing, despite being some distance from the venue. Other teams were given hotels a lot closer, but apparently the quality of some of these isn't that great.
Last nights opening ceremony was one of the best I have seen, and the players I spoke to agreed. The musical numbers were very good, with lots of visual affects and fire works. The speeches were generally short and to the point, although a bit of campaigning from the FIDE establishment did creep in.
First round begins at 3pm local tome, which I believe is 9pm Canberra time. The start may be delayed slightly, if only because the first round is also a bit chaotic.