The total champion was Birigui A of the Diamond class!

Brazil Gateball Union (UCGB) hosted the 6th International Memuro Cup Gateball Open Tournament from July 5 to 7, 2019 in San Paolo.

The 1st tournament was held in 2012 when the UCGB concluded the friendship exchange cooperation agreement with Memuro city, the birthplace of Gateball. Since then, this tournament has been held annually.

This year, 109 teams participated in three classes: the Diamond class of more than 72 years old had 43 teams, the Gold class of more than 60 years old had 28 teams and the Silver class of no age limit had 38 teams.

All participants were invited to the welcome dinner in the night of July 5th. The opening ceremony started at 8 am on July 6. After referees and participants entered into the ground, Jorge Sumi Vice Chairman of the UCGB announced its opening, which was followed by one-minute silent tribute, performance by the military police band of the national anthems of Brazil and Japan, and the national flag raising. Then Mr. Katsumi Hagino, UCGB Chairman, Mr. Naoshige Yano, Chairman of the organizing committee, Mayor Hélio Aparecido Mendes Furini said a few words and then the trophy and the flag were returned by the last year’s champion team. Also 11 participants of over 88 years old were awarded with a special gift.

Each category started its league matches from 9 am. Six to seven teams were allocated to one court and each team played four games. The top four teams in each court moved on to the tournament matches and the winning teams were decided.

The Silver class had another tournament matches for the 14 teams which did not proceed into the tournament matches as the repechage.

The results were as below.

Total Champion: Birigui A

The Diamond Class
1st Birigui A (Hiroyuki Nagata)
2nd São José do Rio Preto A (Daijiro Kodama)
3rd Saga B (Ichiro Usami) / Santo André-A (Yuriko Nakano)

The Gold Class
1st Jales A (Makoto Takeda)
2nd Dracena A (Alberto Y. Yamamoto)
3rd Araguari A (Nelson Y. Inoue) / Goiânia A (Américo Maeda)

The Silver Class
1st Nippon Country B (Yugo Yamaguishi)
2nd Tupã A (Gustavo Nakashima Silva)
3rd Caucaia A (Daniel Kawakami) / Santa Fé do Sul A (Sérgio Kobayakaua)

The repechage of the Silver Class
1st Ibiporã A (Tadashi Tanabe)
2nd Parapuã A (Armando Matsuno)

Winning Teams

A video was added.

◆Solenidade da Abertura (Opening ceremony)

◆Semifinal da categoria Prata (Semifinal − Santa Fé do Sul-A vs Tupã-A)

◆Semifinal da categoria Prata (Semifinal − Nippon-B vs Caucaia-A)

◆Final da categoria Prata (Final − Nippon-B vs Tupã-A)

◆Premiação (Prize giving ceremony)

UNIAO DOS CLUBES DE GATE BALL DO BRASIL

Website
https://gateball.org.br/