World Gateball Championship 2010

Wrap

2010-10-12T22:36:00.001+11:00

This post will conclude my contributions to the blog. Thanks to all the readers.

We have received over 1,200 hits in the month the site has been in existence, peaking at over 80 hits per day during the tournament, unfortunately updates during the tournament were difficult given the Chinese Government blocking access to blogs. I was disappointed that I couldn’t update the results in a more timely manner. Users who have viewed the blog were from 26 countries (all Australian states and territories except NT, Japan, Italy, UK, Brazil, Haiti, US, Hong Kong, Russia, India, NZ, Germany, Vietnam, Indonesia, Switzerland, Israel, Taiwan, Latvia, China, Malaysia Cambodia, Canada, Jersey, Egypt and Ireland).

World Gateball Union News

The proposed rule changes were accepted by the World Gateball Union and will come into affect next year (April I believe).

Japan was confirmed as hosts of the 2014 World Gateball Championship.

Upcoming Tournaments

The final state championship to include the double touch will be the NSW Gateball Championship from 20-21 November.

The Australian Gateball Championships will be held 16-18 September 2011 in Newcastle. This is the premier event in Australian Gateball and was well promoted at the World Championships and will hopefully attract a number of overseas teams.

The upcoming events page of www.gateball.com.au is regularly updated with local (events in Caloundra and Terang are coming up this year) and international event.

YouTube Videos

2010-10-08T20:45:00.002+11:00

David Underhill and Liz Fleming have uploaded the following videos onto YouTube.

Opening Ceremony of the Gateball World Championships 2010

Gateball Shanghai Worlds

Canberra vs Hong Kong 1 (a)

Canberra vs Hong Kong 1 (b)

Semi-final 1

Mixed - Russia, Southport and Korea

Closing Ceremony - Updated 12 October

2010-10-05T21:16:00.006+11:00

The closing ceremony was an incredible spectacle held at the local high school in front of a massive crowd including of tournament volunteers, officials and participants.

My personal highlights were the incredible sand painting exhibition, the Chinese Mask Changing Opera and Kung Fu demonstration.

Pictures courtesy of Kimberlee Trent, and Weekly Gateball News

PM's Letter of Support

2010-10-05T21:12:00.001+11:00

Knock-out phase – Sunday - Updated 12 October

2010-10-04T23:30:00.013+11:00

Total dominance by Chinese teams, the strongest Japanese teams (including the defending champions Osaka Midori) were mostly bundled out early in the knock-out phase.

The table below outlines the progress of group winners through the knock-out phase

.	Number of Teams	Group winners	Quarter-finalists	Semi-finalists	Finalists
China	16	15 (increadible)	7	4	Winner: Fujian Runner-up: Yunnan Liming
Japan	15	5	1	-
Taiwan	11	1	-	-
Hong Kong	5	1	-	-

Brazil

Note: Full results from the knock-out phase are available at http://www.gateball.or.jp/jguweb/wgu/competition/pdf/10_wag_03.pdf

The matches I watched in the knockout phase were:

Guandong Songang (China) defeated Hong Kong Team Number 1 (14-11). This match was decided on the last turn of the match, Hong Kong (who won Canberra’s group) played a strong match and was ahead for much of the match.

TKE (Japan) defeated Hiebei Langfang (China) (15-13); this match was memorable for two reasons, which I’ll outline. The Chinese team dominated the first 20 minutes, TKE had two chances for double touches which they were unable to convert and the Chinese team built a lead until they started making some errors while attacking TKE’s balls close to the line. As the Japanese team swarmed over to gate 2 the Chinese team started delaying the match by (on their outballs turn) purposefully hitting hard into inballs (a foul) to cause a delay in the match while the referees retrieved and returned the balls to their original positions. This was done on two occasions and goes against everything the tournament stood for. I believe stronger action by the referees was warranted. The second event of significance was the final turn of the match by the TKE captain, this turn scored 8 points (including 4 balls sparked through gates) to win the match to the enthusiastic cheers of the Japanese contingent.

Fujian (China) defeated TKE (Japan) (19-11) the quality of matches was now extremely high with hitting accuracy, consistency and tightness to the lines of a very high standard.

Yunnan Liming (China) defeated Zhenger Primary School (China) 19-11 – crowd favourties Zhenger primary School (comprising of Chinese boys I would estimate aged between 15 – 20 years old) couldn’t get going in this match. Crowds at this semi-final stage were now very large with viewing points at a premium. I would estimate about a thousand people created a great atmosphere.

The Final

Fujian (China) defeated Yunnan Liming (China) (9-7). Crowds were kept back by a barrier which obscured some of the court tight to the lines however allowed more of the crowd to view the final, I estimate around 1,500 people watched the final. The match was tight where Yunnan’s on-court dominance was not converted into points. Fujian were able to turn the match late with a scintillating 15m ‘maverick’ shot which swung the game and gave them the tight win despite a number of tense moments in the final two minutes.

Pictures courtesy of Tim Goodland, Kimberlee Trent, Bryan Johnson and Weekly Gateball News

Round Robin Phase – Saturday and Sunday - Updated 12 October

2010-09-20T07:18:00.010+10:00

The first thing I noticed when I arrived on Saturday morning was how many people were about. Spectator numbers was considerable with some of the round robin (of which 12 are played simultaneously) containing hundreds of spectators huddled around the court, creating a great atmosphere.

World Championships Venue in China

All the Chinese teams and a few of the teams from the other nations showed an incredible level of skill with double touches a regular occurrence. The tactics of the top teams saw balls grouped tight to lines waiting patiently for their opportunity to attack.

The Australian charge started well with Canberra picking up a 10-7 win (albeit playing a bit rustily) against Korea Union, this was followed up by an excellent win by Southport 16 -9 over Brazil 8. This is where the strong run by Australian teams ended losing 12 of the next 13 matches with the only other win coming in Canberra’s last game, a 15 – 7 win over Brazil 7. Other Australian teams faced tough opposition with some particularly tough groups.

A list of the Australian results is below:

Canberra – 2nd place in their group

Canberra 10 - 7 def Korea Union
Canberra 10 - 21 lost to Hong Kong Team 1
Canberra 15 - 7 def Brazil 7

Southport – 3rd place in their group

Southport 16 - 9 def Brazil 8
Southport 10 - 13 lost to Hong Kong 3
Southport 9 - 10 lost to Russia

Wombats – 4th place in their group

Wombats 7 -14 lost to Iwate Kuji
Wombats 9 - 25 lost to Zhengzhou Yongtong
Wombats 9 - 19 lost to Inchon Kyodong

Brolgas – 4th place in their group

Brolgas 12 - 14 lost to Brazil 12
Brolgas 10 - 18 lost to Yunnan Liming
Brolgas 7 - 16 lost to Bali

Koalas – 4th place in their group

Koalas 6 - 25 lost to Brazil 6
Koalas 8 - 25 lost to Hebei Langfang
Koalas 8 - 17 lost to Macau Gateball Team 2

The table below shows the results of teams from each nation in the round robin phase.

	Wins	Losses	%
Australia	3	12	20%
Brazil	14	31	31%
China	42	6	88%
Hong Kong	7	8	47%
Indonesia	3	3	50%
Japan	31	14	69%
Macau	5	10	33%
Paraguay	3	3	50%
Philippines	1	5	17%
Russia	1	2	33%
South Korea	12	15	44%
Taiwan	13	20	39%
USA	3	9	25%

Note: Full results from the block draw are available at http://www.gateball.or.jp/jguweb/wgu/competition/pdf/10_wag_02.pdf

The major trends from 2006 are the increased dominance (and level of participation) of Chinese teams and a drop off in the results from Taiwan and Korea. Our friends in Hong Kong had a strong tournament, making the knock-out phase for the first time.

A number of matches were won by large margins (25-3 was the largest) underlying a large gap between the strongest teams (China and to a lesser extent Japan) and the less skillful teams.

Brazilian Gateballer

Three members of the Canberra team discussing strategy

A young Chinese player displaying an unusual sparking style. This team finished in third place

Japanese player hitting golf style

Two members of the Russian team

Southport in action

Elaine Coverdale from the Wombats completing a spark

Sue Leitinger, Captain of the Wombats lining up for a gate

Lowen Clarke and referee

Soutport team working together

Liz Fleming sparking after a gate double touch

A tense moment in a China vs Brazil match

Pictures courtesy of Tim Goodland, Gilon Smith, Kimberlee Trent, Keith McLeod, Weekly Gateball News and the Chinese Gateball Association

Practice and Opening Ceremony - Thursday and Friday - Updated 12 October

2010-09-17T19:40:00.011+10:00

Thursday - First practice day, we were allowed 2 hours at the courts. The courts are fantastic, long grass but very flat and true.

Australian teams had mixed results in practice matches against Russian and Chinese teams.

The squad is looking forward to meeting more teams and more practice tomorrow before the opening ceremony.

Friday - Practice was difficult given the number of teams competing for spots and our limited time at the courts. The opening ceremony included the unveiling of the World’s first Gateball museum. The Museum is fantastic, very comprehensive and impressive with a few amusing English translations (a list of the ‘boar of directors’ was my favourite).

Some shopping was done at the seven Gateball equipment stalls. Equipment was generally very cheap - Gateball wristwatch timer/scores for around $15AUD was one of the best bargains.

The opening ceremony comprised a number of speeches, athletes and official’s oaths and some entertainment. The highlight was a skilful dragon dance.

Several Chinese and Japanese journalists spoke to Australian teams at the opening ceremony. The event and several matches were also videoed by the Super Gateball TV program in Japan, (hopefully Fox Sports picks it up…)

Gateball Mueseum

Friday also included the opening of (what I believe is) the world's first Gateball Museum. It included four rooms of excellent displays including the history of Gateball, the history of equipment, governance, the spread of Gateball over the World and interactive displays were you could practice your stroke of a ball through a gate. The museum also included some amusing English translations, my favourite was the "boar of directors".

The pictures that I have do not do it justice.

Pictures courtesy of Tim Goodland, Gilon Smith, Kimberlee Trent, Weekly Gateball News and the Chinese Gateball Association

Hong Kong

2010-09-14T10:57:00.002+10:00

Seven members of the Canberra Gateball team have met up in Hong Kong to explore the city and play some warm-up matches against other World Championship sides.

A small event was organised which included four of the five Hong Kong teams attending the World Champs (Hong Kong 1,3,4 and 5). Half of the matches were played on long grass courts which played slow and bumpy, the other half on synthetic carpet (the first time we have ever played on that surface) which played very fast.The courts are set in communal parks set amongst massive skyscrapers, these communal areas need to be booked weeks in advance.

Competition was tough, Canberra managed to win 2 of their 6 matches, although our play improved through the day as we got used to the court speeds and characteristics. We had a tight loss against Hong Kong 1 (who are drawn in our group in Shanghai). These results reinforce the high standard that the competition is expected to be played at, this was further emphasised by the stories were told of the amazing high standard of Chinese Gateball.

The hospitality shown by the local Gateballers was exceptional arranging the day for us, organising a fantastic yum cha lunch and providing us with transportation. Australian Gateballlers certainly have many friends in Hong Kong and any future visits to Hong Kong would be strongly welcomed.

Otherwise Hong Kong has been great fun as we eat and explore our way around the city. It has a particularly spectacular cityscape with walls of buildings surrounded by sheer hills. Humidity has been high and there have been occasional heavy storms.

Some pictures are below:

Tournament Program

2010-09-10T20:21:00.004+10:00

You may have noticed that I have been updating other posts as more information becomes available (ie weather, venue pictures, mascot). I note the date of the most recent update in the post title to help readers identify the posts worth viewing.

This post contains some bits and pieces from the tournament program.

Equipment

Here are some of the Gateball equipment manufacturers that are expected to be selling their wares at the tournament (the links below run the websites through google translator).

Changshou Sport

JinJian Sports Equipment Factory - JinJian mallets are reviewed on the Gateball Australia website.

Lonjoy

My personal favourites are the three holed shoes (that let you spark around corners) and the table top gateball set (below).

Referees

There will be 108 accredited international referees at the tournament from Brazil, China, Japan, Korea, Macau and Taiwan. The largest contributors are China (45) and Taiwan (27).

Players

There will be 703 competitors at the tournament. More detail is in the table below:

	Number of Teams	Male Players	Female Players	Total Players
Australia	5	19	15	34
Brazil	15	66	62	128
Hong Kong	5	17	16	33
Indonesia	2	12	5	17
Japan	15	85	17	102
Korea	9	37	22	59
Macau	5	14	20	34
Paraguay	2	5	9	14
Philippines	2	7	11	18
Russia	1	6	1	7
Taiwan	11	60	28	88
USA	4	18	13	31
China	16	122	16	138
Total	92	468	235	703

Gender tends not to be a factor in Gateball. The 2006 World Champions (Osaka Midori) comprised four men and two women.

Timetable

Maps

The maps below may help those of us (or our taxi drivers) going to the venue. It is good to see a large practice area in addition to the playing courts.

Press Coverage

2010-09-08T19:46:00.004+10:00

Here's a summary of the news articles covering the lead-up to the World Champs.

Let the puns begin.

7 September - Melbourne Leader - Get your gate face on

5 September - Canberra Times - Close but its just not croquet

2 September - The Chronicle - World event awaits local pair

30 August - Croquet World Online - Gateball in Shanghai: Croquet miniaturized, multiplied and taken up by millions

27 August - Ipswich News - Shut the gate I'm off to China

26 August - Canberra CityNews - Going for Gateball (page 5 refers)

Draw - Released

2010-09-06T13:01:00.002+10:00

The block draws for the World Gateball Championships has been released. The blocks involving Australian teams are as follows:

Block A-2

A: Korea Union

B: Australia - Canberra

C: Hong Kong, China Team No 1

D: Brazil 7

The most ominous team here appears to be Korea Union which appears to be a composite side (selected players perhaps). Other Korean sides at the tournament represent their city or region.

Block B-2

a: Brazil 8

b: Australia - Southport

c: Hong Kong, China Team No 4

d: Russia Sakhalin

This is a fascinating, very global group. This is the only group that doesn't include any teams from the big four (Japan, China, Korea or Taiwan).

Block A-4

A: Iwate Kuji (Japan)

B: Zhengzhou Yongtong (China)

C: Australia - Wombats

D: Inchon Kyodong C (Korea)

This looks like a tough group however the Wombats are well equiped to combat this as the most successful Australian team at the World Championships having won two of their three block matches when they last competed in Toyama, Japan, 2002.

Block B-8

a: Brazil 12

b: Yunnan Liming (China)

c: Australia - Brolgas

d: Partisan Gateball Bali (Indonesia)

Another very global group, it will be great to play against Bali, Indonesia, our close neighbours.

Block A-11

A: Brazil 6

B: Hebei Langfang (China)

C: Australia - Koalas

D: Macau Gateball Team 2

Four of the five Australian groups include Brazilian teams. Brazillian teams are a relatively unkown quantity however there is extensive footage of Gateball in Brazil posted on YouTube (including some large tournaments). Their tournaments are predominantly played on clay.

The order of matches from the last world Championships are listed below. It is not yet known if Shanghai will follow the same playing order.

Day 1

A vs B

a vs b

C vs D

c vs d

A vs D

a vs d

B vs C

b vs c

Day 2

A vs C

a vs c

B vs D

b vs d

Knockout rounds

A complete listing of the 23 blocks is below. The defending champions Osaka Midori have drawn group B-9.

Does anyone have any comments on the draw?

World Gateball Union Letter

2010-09-04T14:35:00.000+10:00

This letter from the World Gateball Union updates the schedule and number of partipating teams from each country.

Shanghai Weather - Updated 8 September

2010-09-04T14:19:00.003+10:00

The weather around Shanghai was wild ast week with typhoons threatening off the coast. There have been some reports of flooding although the worst appears to have past, for now.

We're into the realm of the 10-day forecasts now, different sites have different opinions but the consensus appears to be maximum temperatures of around 30, very humid (80-95%) and plenty of thunderstorms.

http://weather.msn.com/tenday.aspx?wealocations=wc:CHXX0116&q=Shanghai%2C+CHN+forecast:tenday
http://www.ningboweather.com/shanghai_10_day_weather_forecast.html
http://www.intellicast.com/Local/Weather.aspx?location=CHXX0116

The most comprehensive site for Shanghai weather that I've found is

http://www.accuweather.com/en-us/cn/shanghai/shanghai/forecast2.aspx

which includes a 15 day forecast and hourly predictions up to 10 days out. A summary of accuweather predictions for the tournament as at 8 September are below.

Friday 9/17/2010

Partly sunny and humid

High Temperature: 31°C

RealFeel: 38°C

Friday Night 9/17/2010

Clear to partly cloudy, warm and very humid

Saturday 9/18/2010

Partial sunshine, very warm and very humid with a couple of showers

High Temperature: 33°C

RealFeel: 40°C

Saturday Night 9/18/2010

Partly cloudy, warm and very humid

Sunday 9/19/2010

A shower in the morning; otherwise, clouds and sun, very warm and very humid

High Temperature: 32°C

RealFeel: 42°C

Sunday Night 9/19/2010

An evening thunderstorm; otherwise, mostly cloudy and humid

I'll update this post closer to the event, post a comment if you have any updated information.

Some pictures of the recent wild weather in Shanghai are below.

Picture by FrasSmith published on shanghaiist.com

(Xinhua/Pei Xin) published on english.sina.com

Team Profiles - Southport

2010-09-01T21:17:00.003+10:00

Australia will be sending its largest contingent ever to the World Gateball Championships with five teams representing Australia in Shanghai. Here is a profile of one of those teams.

Team Name: Southport

Team Members: Southport based players in the photo below (from left to right) are: Beryl Phillips, John Turner, Beryl Turner, Jim Northcott, Liz Kent, Carol Clayton and Barbara Northcott (absent- Herman Bekker). Southport members, Beryl and John Turner will be playing with the Australian Koalas in Shanghai.

Previous Experience/Results:

Participation in the 2009 Australian Gateball Championships in Rockhampton and all of the regional Gateball competitions over the last three years.

In Shanghai the team is looking forward to:

Meeting many players from so many different countries and studying the tactical expertise of the top teams.

Biggest Challenge in Shanghai will be:

Coping with participating in such a high-level competition in unfamiliar surroundings and trying not to be overawed by this experience.

Training Schedule: Tuesday evenings: 3:30-9pm (BBQ included). Saturday: 1-4pm and ad hoc personal training (as kindly arranged by Keith McLeod). Jim and Barbara will be in Tokyo for two weeks prior to Shanghai.

Thanks to Barbara Northcott for sending through the details and photo for this post.

Shanghai - Venue Pictures - Updated 9 September

2010-08-30T23:27:00.005+10:00

A couple of pictures of the venue in Shanghai are below.

Here is an updated picture of the venue. The courts look smooth and the grass cut relatively short. Court outlines are also faintly visible, it is unclear if the court outlines are painted, tape or something else.

It is understood the picutre below was taken several months old

Picutre from Japanese Gateball Union website

World Championship Mascots - Updated 9 September

2010-08-30T23:03:00.003+10:00

At a recent press conference for the World Gateball Championshsip the mascots for the event were revealed.

Here's another picture of our fuzzy friends.

Photo published on the Japan Gateball Union website

Photos published on Chinese Gateball Assocation website

Latest out of Shanghai

2010-08-28T23:13:00.024+10:00

The best source of news on the World Gateball Championships is expected to be the Chinese Gateball Association website. Unfortunately for us this website is in Chinese, however online translators can provide some translation.

The latest document appears to be aimed at paying spectators.

My reading of the main points are:

Ticket prices for spectators will range from 30 –120 Yuan, around $5 ‑ $20 AUD.

There will be a daily limit of 2,500 tickets sold to avoid overcrowding!

An opening ceremony is scheduled from 4:30– 5:30pm on Friday 17 September.

The event will end with a closing ceremony on Sunday 19 September including cultural performances.

Caution should be used in interpreting this information as online interpreters are approximate at best.

A couple of pictures of the venue are published on the World Gateball Union website. This website is expected to be the other source of updated information in the lead-up to the event.

Team Profiles - Canberra

2010-08-28T23:06:00.014+10:00

Team Name: Canberra

Team Members: Gilon Smith (Manager), Glen Whitehead (Captain), Lee Forace, Tim Goodland, Michael Hunter, Kristina Huynh, Bryan Johnson, Alex Park and Kimberlee Trent.

Previous Experience/Results:

Current holders of the Queensland and Australian Gateball Championships.

Seven of the nine members of the touring squad participated in the previous World Gateball Championships in Korea.

In Shanghai the team is looking forward to:

Eating great Chinese food.

Biggest Challenge in Shanghai will be:

Adapting quickly to the playing surface.

Maintaining momentum with eight players, three substitutions per match.

Training Schedule: Canberra currently trains twice a week. Saturday afternoons at the Canberra Croquet Club and Sunday afternoon at Reid Oval.

Countries at the World Gateball Championships

2010-08-28T22:43:00.018+10:00

The 10th World Gateball Championships will see ninety-six teams from fourteen nations competing for the title of World Champion, this is an increase on the ten nations represented at the 2006 edition in Jeju, Korea. Table 1 lists the number of teams competing from each country, Indonesia and the Philippines will be competing for the first time.

Table 1: Number of teams from each country

.	2010 World Gateball Championships	2006 World Gateball Championships
Australia	5	2
Brazil	15	8
China	14 (host)	5
Hong Kong	5	4
India	1(?)
Indonesia	2
Japan	15	16
Macau	5	1
Paraguay	2
Philippines	2
Russia	2	2
South Korea	12	32 (host)
Taiwan	12	16
USA	4	5

Note: The six late withdrawals from the 2006 World Championships are not listed in the table above.

What is the competition format?

Consistent with the 2006 edition teams will be grouped in 24 blocks of 4 for the round-robin competition. The winning team from each group progresses to the knock-out phase of the competition.

This is a cut-throat format with the World Championship winning team likely to require eight straight victories against increasingly difficult opposition. The fact that Japanese powerhouse Greenpia Tomonokai achieved this feat consecutively at the 6th, 7th and 8th World Championships is amazing.

Despite the cut-throat nature of the event it does facilitate 96 teams, 167 matches and over 600 competitors in two days of competition.

Results from the 2006 World Gateball Championships

The table below brings together the wins and losses by teams from each country in the round robin stage only of the 2006 World Championships. Countries with more teams competing in the tournament (listed in Table 1 above) have obviously played more group matches.

Table 2: Results of teams from each nation in the round robin phase

	Wins	Losses	%
Australia	2	3	40%
Brazil	6	14	30%
China	12	3	80%
Hong Kong	3	9	25%
Japan	31	13	70%
Macau	1	2	33%
Russia	1	5	17%
South Korea	47	43	52%
Taiwan	20	23	47%
USA	3	11	21%

Note: Full results from the block draw are available at http://www.gateball.or.jp/jguweb/worldcompe/9wc/file/9wcyosen.html

The two Australian teams competing in 2006 should be very proud of their results, with both teams winning one match and giving Australia a superior winning percentage to much larger Gateballing nations including Brazil, Hong Kong and the USA.

My major take out from table 2 is the dominance of the big four: China; Japan; South Korea; and Taiwan. China and Japanese teams particularly were of a consistently high standard. This is probably a result of the difficult qualification requirements in these countries, for example the Chinese Gateball Union reported that over 200 Gateaballers recently tried out for the Chinese teams.

Table 3 shows the progression of group winners through the knock-out phase of the 2006 World Gateball Championships. All 24 group winners came from the four dominant Gateball nations.

Table 3: Progress of group winners through the knock-out phase

.	2006 World Champs- Number of Teams	Group winners	Quarter-finalists	Semi-finalists	Finalists
Japan	16	6	2	1	Winner – Osaka Midor
Taiwan	16	5	2	2	Runners Up
Korea	32	10	1	-
China	5	3	3	1

Note: Full results from the knock-out phase are available at http://www.gateball.or.jp/jguweb/worldcompe/9wc/file/9wckessyo.html

Draw

Draws are set so that countries are represented a maximum of once in each group. Given this all blocks are likely to be challenging , likely containing two or three of the largest participating nations China, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and Taiwan.