| Asia Gateball Championship in Kagoshima 2004 |
Japanese teams monopolize the podium.
The final game was fought between local teams both from Kagoshima prefecture!
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The final game was fought between Kushira Rose and Friend Sports B.
Friend B gathered their balls at the 4th corner and prevailed against Kushira.
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The 4th Asia Gateball
Championship
October 29 (Fri.) ~ 31 (Sun.)
Kagoshima city, Kagoshima prefecture, Japan / Kamoike Stadium |
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■Sponsor / Asia Gateball Union
■Supervisors / Japan Gateball Union, Kagoshima Gateball union
■Patronage / Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kagoshima prefecture, Kagoshima city, etc.
■Special co-sponsor / Nippon Foundation |
The Asia Championship is held once every 4 years. In the previous
championship held in Shanghai, China, local Chinese teams dominated the podium,
however, in this championship Japanese teams braced themselves and made a good
result! |
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| Friend Sports B, who were in excellent
shape won at last! |
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| This club team has 3 players in their 20's who began playing in
early childhood. The team won 3rd prize at the 19th All Japan GB Championship
last year, 3rd prize at Middle class of "the 19th the All Japan GB Selected
Matches" and 2nd prize at the 21st "the All Japan GB Games for Communication
of All Ages" this year, so they are in the best possible condition since
last year. They are a front- runner type team that excels at double play at the
4th corner and attaches a great deal of importance to strategy. |
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Local veteran, Kushira Rose recovers to win 2nd prize |
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This is a veteran team, which made it through to the best 8 at
the 18th All Japan GB Selected Matches in 2003. In this championship, the young
captain Shoichiro Fukunaga (29 / photo above) played as commander. There are many
strong contestants in Kagoshima, so they have not yet had a lot of experience
playing in the national games, however, they excel at double play in each corner
and attach great importance to strategy. |
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Kumamoto Happy, a regular winner of the "the All Japan
GB Games for Communication of All Ages".
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Kumamoto Happy, a regular winner of the "the All Japan GB Games for Communication
of All Ages". They won the 3rd prize at the 16th and 20th Games (Kumamoto
Kiraku-kai A) and the 20th (Kumamoto Kiraku-kai B). They emphasize strategy, but
they can read the development of the game quickly and switch to forced attack
mode when necessary. |
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The 3rd prize
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They are well known as the youthful team representing the social welfare corporation.
They have twice achieved victory in many Championships and, as for their international
record, they won 3rd prize at the 8th World Championship. They are a first attack
type team with the stress on strategy, and are good at double play operations
in the 4th corner. |
Red power is still alive and well,
Kenshou-kai (Tokushima)
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Best 8
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Towada (Aomori)
Their active play at “the All Japan GB Games for Communication of All Ages”
was most notable. They made it to the best 16 in the 10th games of 1993, best
8 at the 14th games and won 3rd prize at the 15th games. Basically they are strategy
oriented, however, they can switch to forced attack mode when necessary. |
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Kochi Club (Kochi)
A veteran team that has placed in national games many times. They won 3rd prize
at the 18th All Japan GB Championship. At the All Japan GB Selected Matches, they
finished in second place at the 13th Game and made it to 3rd place at the 14th
Game. They attack forcibly and also play with great strategy. They are good at
double play operations in the 4th corner. |
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Tochigi Gate Star (Tochigi)
A father and daughter are on the team, Takao Koguchi won the 15th All Japan GB
Selected Matches in 2000, and his daughter Ayumi (photo) who played as captain
in this championship won the 17th All Japan GB Selected Matches. Both of them
were on the team in the 8th World Championship where they won 3rd prize. They
are good at double play operations in the 4th corner. |
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Satsuma A (Kagoshima)
They are powerful opponents who won the 18th All Japan GB Championship. They won
3rd prize at the 17th All Japan GB Selected Matches. Their comrades, Satsuma B
who also qualified to advance to the final tournament in this championship has
experience in winning at the 18th All Japan GB Selected Matches. Their first concern
is for ball position and they attach great importance on strategy. |
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The eldest players were 83 years old, and there
were 3 of them |
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The youngest teams |
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It rained at the championships, but the Tifton lawn at the venue
had soft leaf tips and was just like an artificial lawn. The water drained off
well, and the condition of the court was at its best.
In the preliminary league, Umezu (Kyoto), who had advanced to the 2nd match
of the final tournament in the previous championship held in Shanghai, China were
defeated by Towada (Aomori) and knocked out at an early stage. Moreover, Hsinchu(Chinese
Taipei) who won the 2nd championship and were expected to win again lost in the
preliminary tournament. It was unusual because no Chinese Taipei teams advanced
to the final tournament in the end. On the other hand, the fight put up by the
Korea and Hong Kong China teams was very strong.
The hardest fought battles in the preliminary league were on court 7-A. where
the games of Oita Himajin versus 1-Bloom GB Association (Hong Kong China) and
Korean Jung Ang(Korea) versus SY (Niigata) were played. The winner on the court
was determined by the result of the 11th game on the 2nd day of the championship,
which was fought between Hong Kong I-Bloom and SY. In the end, SY defeated Hong
Kong I-Bloom with a score of 14-7, and the 3 teams excluding Korean Jung Ang stood
at the same ratio with 2 wins and 1 loss each. The point differential between
Oita and Hong Kong I-Bloom was the same at plus 9 and as a result of the tournament,
Hong Kong stood as winners on the court.
Apart from Hong Kong I-Bloom, the 3 teams of Korea Hosoo, Korea Chungbuk B and
Korea SEOUL A advanced to the final tournament as the force from overseas, and
SEOUL A looked very strong. They defeated Kuroda-sho (Hyogo) in their 1st match
with a score of 13-10, and in the 2nd match they took the lead over Satsuma A
(the Kagoshima team, that won the 18th All Japan GB Championship) with a sore
of 11-10, but in the last minutes of the game the final hitter of Satsuma A struck
a final blow, and SEOUL A lost after victory had seemed so certain with the final
score of 11-12. However, the audience showed their appreciation with warm applause
for their brave fight.
Kensho-kai (Tokushima), who were at the top of their form in this season, went
up against Satsuma B ( Kagoshima team, winners of the 18th All Japan GB Selected
Matches), and then went on to defeat Momotaro club (Okayama), then Satsuma A,
and eventually made it through to play against Kushira Rose (Kagoshima) in the
semifinal. They were exhausted from their battles with the Kagoshima teams and
lost in the semifinal round. Elsewhere, All Iwate lead by the captain Hideharu
Tabata, who achieved victory at all 3 championships sponsored by the Japan GB
Union and who are at present holders of a 3rd straight victory in the world championship,
fought with Friend Sport B (Kagoshima) in their 1st match and lost with a score
of 5-21. They now have to wait till the next championship to accomplish his dream
of winning all 5 championships.
As a result of this, the final tournament was fought between the local Kagoshima
teams Friend Sports B and Kushira Rose. The first hitter Kushira advanced the
Red No.1 and No.3 balls to the 4th corner in the 1st round setting up a possible
double play operation there. Then, Friend tried to pass the White No.6 through
the 2nd gate, but the ball clipped the leg of the gate and stayed right in the
mouth of it. Their White No.8 passed the 1st gate and touched the White No. 6
at passing through the 2nd gate, so White No.8 gained two shots and managed to
push out the Red No.1 and No.3 balls of Kushira. With this one play, Friend had
overwhelmed Kushira at an early stage, and after that they kept up the attack
with 1 triple play and 8 double plays. Friend knocked out Kushira with a final
score of 21-5 and became the 4th crowned kings of the Asia Championship, playing
on their own home ground. "We came in 3rd at the All Japan GB Selected Matches,
2nd at the All Japan GB Games for Communication of All Ages this year, and at
last we have made it to 1st place in this championship. We were on really good
form and the run of the balls was with us in all our games, which saw us through
as winners in this championship". (Friend Sports B/ manager Toshiaki Soyama) |
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| 2 countries and 3 regions participated as overseas
teams! |
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Korea |
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Hong Kong China |
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Macao China |
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Chinese Taipei |
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China |
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