“New South Wales State Gateball Championship”

In Both Doubles and Teams Matches, Japan Team Won!

New South Wales State Gateball Championship was held from December 2-4, 2016 in Newcastle of New South Wales, the eastern part of Australia.  Teams from Australia and Japan participated in that tournament.
Newcastle is the second biggest city in New South Wales, with the population of about 150,000 and at 160 km north of Sydney.
The tournament was held at the Newcastle Croquet Club where “the Australian Gateball Championship” was held in 2011.


On December 2, the first day of the tournament, started from the opening ceremony in which a member of the New South Wales State Parliament made a speech and stroked the first ball.
Then, the double matches started.  18 teams in total, 15 teams from Australia and 3 teams from Japan, were divided into 3 groups. After teams in three groups matched up in a round-robin style, the high-scored teams selected from 3 groups played the semi-final and final games. As a result, the Japan-pair team took the first place the Australia-pair team the second place.


The following two days were for the matches between regular 5 member teams by 12 teams --70 players in total --, 10 teams from Australia, 1 from Japan, and 1 team mixed with Japanese and Australian players. Each team provided referees for 5 matches on the first day and 6 matches on the second day while the team is not in a match. There was a tea time intermission in every two matches according to the Australian style, participants could rest and recover their physical strength while they made friends with each other. Thanks to this, the matches went on in a friendly atmosphere.
The result of the team matches was that Japan teams won in all 11 matches.


On December 3, the local TV media, NBN Television, visited to interview and broadcasted a video of the championship in their news program from 6 pm.  Participants watched the news on a big screen at a nearby club house while they were having the dinner, playing riddles, and enjoying themselves.


The news program can be found with the website below:
http://www.nbnnews.com.au/2016/12/03/gateball-rolls-into-action/

 

From left, Mses. Judy Squelch and Kerrie Sutherland, organizers of the New South Wales State Gateball Championship, a WGU staff member, Mr. Tim Crakanthorp, a member of the New South Wales State Parliament, and Mr. John Park, a national coordinator of Gateball Australia. From left, the 4th and 5th are Messrs. Glen Whitehead and Tony Hall, the runner-up pair, the 2nd and 3rd are Messrs. Terumi Higashi and Yoshiaki Kitaura, the champion pair.  Messrs. Whitehead and Hall were the runner-up pair in 2016 as well.
Team match champion from Japan Kew, the team match runner-up from Victoria, Australia.