Card players aiming to be full of coffee beans during the current Orbis World Bridge Championships will have to find another way of keeping alert.

As part of the contest's inclusion as an Olympic "mind'' sport for the first time, the International Olympic Committee has put a lid on the number of cups of coffee allowed.

Drug testing is to take place amongst the 240 players from around the world and officials, having realised that caffeine is included on the list of substances, had to get an official ruling on the limit.

John Hoskins, secretary general of the Bermuda Olympic Association, said: "They said ten cups of coffee in three hours, that is a very, very rough guide.'' Mr. Hoskins added that it had to be a guideline because of the variety of coffee available -- and the different sizes of container.

"You don't know how strong or weak it is,'' he said. "But people don't drink ten cups in three hours anyway.'' One of the Bermuda team captains, Kevin Comeau, said most of the players were concentrating far too intensely to even contemplate any drink.

"I don't know anyone who could drink ten cups in three hours. You are concentrating so much on the cards, you may look up once and take a sip of water,'' he said.

"None of our players drink coffee while they are playing and I don't think any of them are big coffee drinkers during the day.'' Mr. Comeau said the ruling was really intended for other sports, where the coffee could be used to mask another substances.

Drug testing during the contest, which is being held at the Fairmont Southampton Princess, is due to start halfway through the three-week competition -- which began last Saturday.

"It is probably better to start testing when teams start to get eliminated.

When things start to get tense,'' he added.