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2 days to go – Draw/Travel Log

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IMG_1543 days to go

The draw has not been released so today’s post will instead show some highlights from the Canberra team’s travels in Japan so far. All Australian sides have been doing some sightseeing before the competition.

This post will be updated once the draw is released.

Canberra team at the Sumo
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Canberra team at the Robot Restaurantimage
Canberra team visiting Nikko
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Australia’s participation in the 2014 World Gateball Championship has been supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Japan Foundation.
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3 days to go – Australian Referees/Tournament Weather Forecast/Australian Media

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IMG_1542 days to go

Tournament Weather Forecast

showers

Current weather forecasts for the tournament are mixed with a 70% chance of rain before the tournament on Thursday and possible showers during the tournament on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Temperatures will be warm, around 15 to 25 degrees on each day. Currently weather in Tokyo is warm with light clouds. The latest forecast for Niigata is below.
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Latest weather updates from the Japan Meteorological Association are available at:  http://www.jma.go.jp/en/week/323.html

Australian Referees

The 2014 World Championship will see an Australian Referee Team officiating for the first time. The Australian Referee Team has been training since March including on-court refereeing of games complimented by a number of rules study sessions. Congratulations to our referees on their selection and we wish them good calls all tournament. Profiles of the referee team are below:

Keith McLeod
  • Past Australian National Gateball Director
  • Gateball player since 1996
  • Player in the Broadbeach Gateball Team in many state and national competitions
  • Member of the Australian team in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 Gateball World Championships
  • International gateball referee since 2009
  • Club member of Broadbeach Croquet Club and Southport Croquet Club
Bruce McAlister
  • Queensland State Gateball Director since 2005
  • Gateball player since 2005
  • Player in the Ipswich and East Brisbane Gateball Team in many state and national competitions
  • Member of the Australian team at the 2010 World Gateball Championship
  • International gateball referee since 2009
  • Club member of Ipswich Croquet Club and East Brisbane Croquet Club
Margaret Barnard
  • Past president of Broadbeach Croquet Club
  • Gateball player since 2007
  • Player in the Broadbeach Gateball Team and referee in many state and national competitions. 
  • International gateball referee
  • Club member of the Broadbeach Croquet Club

Australian Media Coverage
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In addition to the media coverage for Southport and the referees (above), Glen Whitehead (Canberra) was interviewed on ABC local radio Canberra and the Raptors were featured in the Tamborine Mountain News.


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Australia’s participation in the 2014 World Gateball Championship has been supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Japan Foundation.

4 days to go – Tournament Information

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IMG_1541 days to go

Tournament Information

Competitors are still eagerly awaiting the release of the final draw. A number of other elements of tournament information are listed below.

The team list and number of entries have been confirmed. There will be 733 competitors in 96 teams. The youngest competitor will be 12 years old from Fangyuan Junior High School, Taipei. Closely followed by Australia’s own Chris Wentworth from Southport who is 13 years old.

Schedule (Niigata local time):
【September 26th】
Opening Ceremony : 15:00-16:00

【September 27th】
 Welcome: 09:40-10:40
 Round Robin Tournament : 11:00-16:50
 (Each team will have 2 games on this day)

【September 28th】
 Round Robin Tournament : 09:00-11:30
 (Game 9 – 12. Each team will play 1 game)
Knockout Tournament : 12:30-16:00
Awards and Closing Ceremony : 16:30-17:30

Broadcast

Australian gateball fans can watch the tournament live as listed below. Timing may be subject to change.

The channel for live streaming is:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/52090024

Friday September 26th
Opening Ceremony : 16:00-17:00 AEST

Sunday September 28th
Knockout Phase : 14:15-17:00 AEST
*The four final games will be broadcasted
Awards and Closing Ceremony : 17:00-   AEST

Venue Photos

Three new photos of the venue have been released. The courts appear flat and with long grass.

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Australia’s participation in the 2014 World Gateball Championship has been supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Japan Foundation.
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5 days to go – Southport

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IMG_1553 days to go

Southport Gateball Team

 Gateball Team to JapanOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Back Row – Christopher Wentworth, Jim Northcott, Lee Wentworth, Amanda Wentworth
Front Row – Beryl Phillips, Barbara Northcott, Julia Vickers
Insert photo – Gaye Pitman, Captain of QLD Golf Croquet Team who was unable to be there for the photo because of the training for Golf Croquet one week before playing in Adelaide.

Experiences – Australia
Southport has participated in every Australian Gateball Championship and every QLD Championship since 2007.

Experiences – Overseas
Southport participated in the 10th World Gateball Championship in 2010 in Shanghai where it won one game out of the three in its Block.

Southport competed in the  Asian Cities Gateball Games in Macau in October, 2012 where once again it won one game out of three in its Block. After that, the team travelled to Japan to play friendly games against teams from Matsumoto, Nagoya, Toyota and Adachi.

Training Times
Tuesday afternoons from 4:00 p.m. Saturday afternoons from 1:00 p.m. and closer to the competition, every 2nd afternoon.

The team looks forward to:
(1) Meeting up with players from the teams we have played against before such as the Brazilian Team from Toyota, and The Friends Team from Kyushu and those players from Hong Kong, Bali and China that we have met before.
(2) New developments in the world of Gateball and in the game strategies of other teams.
(3) Japanese food and hospitality

The biggest challenge will be:
Adapting to the court surface after practicing on a variety of surfaces here in QLD.

Secret Weapon
If we tell you, it is not a secret!

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Australia’s participation in the 2014 World Gateball Championship has been supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Japan Foundation.