Introduction of the participating nations and regions 1
Switzerland, Europe, Russia, and Australia

Debut!    Switzerland

　"Swiss National Gateball Team" will be participating from Switzerland.
　A gateball demonstration by an Australian player at the Croquet club of Switzerland in 2009 was the starting point of gateball in Switzerland. David Underhill, one of the Swiss players, went to observe the previous World Gateball Championship (Shanghai, China) in 2010. The first gateball event in Europe was held in Geneva in 2013 and saw participation of enthusiasts from six countries including Japan.
　"Swiss National Gateball Team" comprised of three couples including the Underhill couple. Since its formation this year, the team has engaged in twice-a-week practice sessions of stroking the ball straight and sparking. Underhill visited Japan to check out the Niigata City Athletic Stadium in April this year. Thereafter, he participated in the gateball promotion event held for the first time in England in August and gathered experience.
　Their objective in this championship will be to demonstrate the results of their practice and experience, score at least 5 points in all the games, watch high-level games, and interact with teams from around the world. They would also like to draw attention to the team uniform which was decided after a great deal of consideration.

Members of "Team Europe" participating in this championship



Participating for the third time!    Russia

　One team from "Sakhalin" will be participating from the Russian Federation. This will be their third appearance following the 9th championship in 2006 and the previous championship in 2010.
　Like the previous championships, the team participating in this championship is comprised of students from the Spartak physical training school in Sakhalin and is a team of young men in the age group of 10-30 years. In the previous championship, they won one and lost two preliminary league matches.
　Gateball became popular in Sakhalin in 2000 through the Japan Gateball Union. Three members of the team this time have been playing since then. The youngest member of the team, who is 15 years old, had participated in the 9th championship (Jeju-do, Korea) when he was 7 years old.
　The team has been training every weekend at the stadium Spartak.Their objective in this championship, which is taking place in the birthplace of gateball - Japan, is to gain new experiences and interact with fellow players with whom they are not yet well acquainted.

Members of "Sakhalin" participating in this championship



Top 3 teams from the domestic championship will be participating!    Australia

　This year three teams will be participating from Australia, which has participated in 5 consecutive championships since the 7th championship (Hawaii, America) in 1998.
　The participating teams are the top three teams from the 2013 Australian Championship. "Canberra" and "Southport" have an experience of participating in this championship, and even the team which will be making its debut, "Tamborine Mountain Raptors", consists of members who has experience of participating in this championship. The members of these three teams include players belonging to a wide range of age groups, from teenagers to 70-80 year olds. In addition, Australia will be sending a referee crew to this championship for the first time.
　The team that attracts special attention is "Canberra", which has participated in 3 consecutive championships since the 9th championship in 2006, and consists of players at the age group of 30-40. One gateball player called out to his friends and the team was formed in 2005. The team won the Australian Championship in 2009 and 2013.  The members have been friends even before they started playing gateball. So their teamwork is outstanding, and they use strategic fighting methods to exert pressure on the opposite team. For this championship, the team practiced stroking and trained in the game format on a croquet court at least once a week. In addition to this, anticipating the venue for the championship, the team trained hard on the natural grass court of a soccer ground to familiarize themselves with thick natural grass.
　They said "Our objective in this championship is to demonstrate maximum ability and get through the preliminary league matches. We would also like to enjoy the game with teams that we are not familiar with from various countries and regions".