Results from Australian teams and photos will be posted progressively throughout the day.

Australian Results

Southport

Uruguay 16 – Southport 9

Southport 12 – Thailand 5

Tamborine Mountain Raptors

GMF (Indonesia) def Raptors

Tsuyama Gateball Family 18 – Raptors 8

Canberra

Garuda Sultang (Indonesia) 12 – Canberra 8

Canberra 13 – Canada 10

In addition to these updates the following websites are expected to be progressively updated during the tournament.

World Gateball Union World Championship Website
Japan Gateball Union Website
Japan Gateball Union Blog
Japan Gateball Union Facebook

Sunday finals will be streamed live on USTREAM

The Australian referee team will take control of their first match at 11:00am local time.

Australian teams have been popular with the Japanese media featuring on Channel 6 news yesterday.

Teams awaiting the opening march. A large crowd has arrived. Gateball shops are doing a roaring trade. Photos of Aussie teams and crowd are below.

Ceremonial gate is huge! Teams bibs are below.

 

Opening ceremony complete, the flame has been lit. First round of matches has commenced. Australian referees in action.

 

Australian results are at the top of this post. First up loss for Southport to Uruguay despite a late flurry of points at the end from both teams. All Australian teams recorded a loss in the first round, second round just starting.

First win for Australia with Canberra defeating Canada, in a tight match after Canada hit several long bombs. Tamborine have started well against the formidable Tsuyama GB Family (Japan).

Japanese side has taken control against the Raptors. Some long shots by the Raptors fell agonisingly short. Japan win.

Southport have started well in the final round against Thailand. Southport in control 9-5 with 15minutes remaining.

Southport wins. Good end to the day for the Aussies. Southport are the strongest chance to advance needing to beat Europe and have Thailand beat Uruguay.

More updates tomorrow from 6am. Full results from day 1 are at the link below. Not a great day for China with only a few teams likely to qualify for the knockout phase. Defending champions Fujian are unlikely to progress.

http://www.gateball.or.jp/2014WGCGroupstage1.pdf

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