days to go

Back Row- Paul Reynolds (Manager), David Hughes (Captain), Herman Bekker
Front Row- Sandra Reynolds, Carol Clayton
Absent – Barrie Barnard

Experiences in Australia

The Tamborine Mountain Raptors are currently the Eiji Suzuki Cup Champions, and have been for the past two years. The Raptors are also current holders of the Rockhampton “Winter in the Sun” Competition, and have previously won the QLD State Championships in 2011.

Experiences Overseas

Members of the team have played in the 10^th World Championships, held in Shanghai, China. The Raptors will be making their International Debut as a team at the 11^th World Championships.

The Raptors have played against quality international sides in Australia before and have always been up to the challenge. The team looks forward to playing against the quality opposition that the International stage has to offer once again.

Training

The Raptors have been practicing as a team at multiple venues across the State, including Ipswich, Tamborine Mountain and Toowoomba. The team train once a week (usually on a Sunday) for the full day.

What the team is looking forward to in Japan:

• The sights that Japan has to offer.
• Food.
• The fierce competition.
• Bullet Trains.
• Winning the World Championships

Biggest Challenge that will be faced

One of the biggest challenges will obviously be translation; the team won’t be able to hear the opposition’s tactics preventing them from possibly gaining a greater advantage. The team also believes that adapting to the different length of grass on Japan’s courts will be challenging.

Secret Weapon

Our bright yellow uniforms. Hopefully they will have the opposition blinded!

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