Kew achieved an Australian first by winning their pool and progressing to the round of 16.

Having won one game and losing a second on countback the previous day, Kew faced the team from South East Paraguay conscious that a victory would clinch their position as group winners. It was a tight game with errors on both sides. Captain Philip’s final hero suicide shot on ball 10 clinched the win by denying ball 10 the opportunity to make a play. The final score was 9-8.

Through to the final knockout phase Kew played against the eventual runners up from Shanghai and were given a lesson in precision ball placement.

Canberra faced a final challenging game against a local team who had the finesse to handle the dry clay court. After establishing control the young Brazilian team kept Canberra out of the game.

Redcliffe played a Brazilian team who had been called in to the comp to replace a Chinese team that had failed to arrive. The locals were accurate with their touches and Redcliffe failed to achieve the rhythm they had demonstrated in their win on the first day of competition.

The lightening fast clay courts were a challenge for all the Australian teams. The days prior to the tournament had seen a lot of rain – and dry clay courts play very differently to the muddy ones seen in practice.

The final was between the Nippon Country Club Brazil (White) and Shanghai (Red), the team that had knocked out Kew in the round of 16.

Both teams played hold off and by the end of the first round only 5 balls were on the court -1,3,4,6 and 10. Red had control of gate 2.

In round 2, 5 came on with pivots in place but missed the pivot ball. 7 followed so all Chinese balls were in play. At this point no one was interested in scoring. It was all about jockeying for position. White gathered defensively in corner 1.

The first ball passed the second gate at 17 minutes into the game. 9 and 3 had passed gate 2 by the end of the round.

White scattered along line 1 as there was a risk of gate and touch by red. Reds gathered at 3 but in setting up put 7 out on the fast clay courts.

Brazil exploited the opportunity and sent 8 from line 1 to eliminate the reds. Ball 8 touched 9 but missed ball 1 on the line. Red slowly added points through the middle stages of the match. But an unfortunate double touch foul and an out-of-character missed shot at Ball 6 let White back in the game. Ball 6 touched 8 and the avalanche began.

With only 5 minutes remaining, Shanghai were leading 9 to 5 and the fervent Brazilian supporters were watching the clock anxiously and cheering the late Brazilian aggression.

Having achieved control, the Brazilian team gathered at gate 2.

The local crowd went wild as the Brazilians raced against the clock.  Ball six sparked three balls through gate 2 and set a gate touch for 8. 8 scored the gate touch, moved 4, 6 and 10 to gate three then removed ball 9 from the line near gate 1. Ball 10 put 4, 6 and 8 through gate 3, before scoring gate 3 itself. The final Agari was icing on the cake. Brazil had scored 10 points in three balls to overturn the deficit and win by a comfortable margin in the end – though the margin overstated the closeness of the game.

The patience of the Brazilian team to set up their win was a lesson to all Australians in how to play the game at this level. The skill level demonstrated on the fast clay courts was outstanding and complemented the strategic duel. A clear feature of play at this level was the defensive positioning of clusters of balls when not in control of the gate.

Australian Gateball is improving slowly but surely…and we know what we have to practise!!!

A solid day for Australia on day one of the World Championship in Sao Paulo. Redcliffe and Kew recorded a win and a loss each.

Kew were in control against a Brazilian team in their first game and continued to win by 9 points. In their second game their Argentinian opposition cleared the court with a late gate and touch and levelled the scores. Although scores were tied, the Argentinians had put their final ball on the goal pole and won on the countback.

Despite a magnificent slide from the first corner by Paul, Redcliffe’s early game had seen them go down by only 1 point to a Brazilian team. Later in the day they came back to win a game by 7 points over a Paraguayan team. Check Redcliffe player Nikki ‘s facebook post for some pics and commentary.

The day ended with Kew and a diverse crowd watching Canberra go down in a close one. After initial dominance by the South American team, Canberra took the advantage when balls were put out and began to put on some points. In the final few minutes Argentina regained the upper hand and went on to win the game. Canberra have posted pics here

Canberra will be hoping for a win in their last round tomorrow. Redcliffe and Kew will be hoping for another win and for results to go their way to see if an Australian team can make it into the finals for the first time

Canberra and Kew made their way through the streets of the Japanese quarter to catch the 8.30 buses for the 45 minute ride to the Gateball Stadium of Sao Paulo City, while Redcliffe made their own way by taxi.

All were anxious to try out the clay courts. As players practised their shots and sparks, it soon became clear that overnight rain had made the courts sticky.This prompted a later trip to the local cheap shop for some cloths. We decided that Bruce McAllister would have been well kitted up, had he been here with his dangling towel!

One conclusion about the ball’s course was that the last 10 to 15 cm could be somewhat random.

It was great to catch up with players we had met in previous competitions, both within Australia and overseas. Players  sported all the colours of the rainbow, although the Korean outfit of red and blue checked pants and bright yellow shirts stole the show.

Players returned to town by bus for about 1pm. Team reps then headed off for their meeting about tournament arrangements, while other met up with John, who had just emerged from the morning’s WGU meeting and lunch.

Dancers at the opening dinner

Three Australian teams are putting together their final preparations for the WGU Championships which take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil from the 21st to 23rd September.

Some players have already arrived in South America. Others travel this week

The challenge for the three teams, Canberra, Kew and Redcliffe is to better the previous record of two wins in the pool games. No Australian team has yet progressed into the knockout round. That’s the challenge for 2018!

The new selection process has allowed clubs to choose other players to make up their numbers. Canberra invited Southport’s Jim and Barbara Northcott to join them to fill gaps they identified in their playing line up. The 6 Canberra players have been training hard by attending CNSW events and asking Jamberoo to join them for some games. Canberra did not want to miss the opportunity to promote the game. This press release hit the Canberra media

Kew’s Victorian core of Philip Brown, Gilon Smith and Elaine Coverdale have taken time off work to attend the event. They  selected Toowoomba’s Sandra and Paul Reynolds and Lithgow’s John Park to complete their team. Kew held their final practice last Sunday.  John Park has been practising in his back yard and on the Lithgow lawn. Paul and Sandra did a great job of getting some media coverage in their home town. As well as on their club lawn, Paul and Sandra tried their luck on a clay tennis court near Ipswich recently where they joined Redcliffe players who make up the Australian contingent.

  As well as a joint practice session at Ipswich, Redcliffe have had their regular Saturday sessions at Bramble Bay and have met at Deception Bay on Mondays. The team of Nikki, Paul, Ros, Jennifer and Geoff are this years only team based on a single club.

The ACA has provided uniforms and $250 per player towards the cost of travel. The 9 Queensland players have been supported with another $250 from their state. Thanks are due for this fantastic support