2009 World Games - Day 1

For those of you in the ultimate community who don't ever check their emails (and subsequently, probably not this blog), the 2009 World Games are currently going down in Kaohsiung in Chinese Taipei. The Australia Crocs are taking on USA, Canada, Japan, Great Britain and Chinese Taipei over 3 intense days in the main stadium in Kaohsiung.

Day 1 has been run and won, with all games going as expected...

Canada 13 d. Great Britain 10
Japan 13 d. Chinese Taipei 7
USA 13 d. Australia 11
Japan 13 d. Great Britain 10
Australia 13 d. Chinese Taipei 9
USA 13 d. Canada 6

Perhaps the two surprises to come out of Day 1 was the margin in the USA/Canada game, and the performance of Chinese Taipei against Japan and Australia. Chinese Taipei were expected to be the minnows of this competition, qualifying based on the fact they were the host nation. However their mixed team competed at Worlds last year and their preparation has been intense, plus there is also the factor of the home crowd, which reportedly was more than 8,000. If you think the sideline is the 8th player on the field, then surely a crowd of that size would be the 9th, 10th and 11th.

At Worlds last year, Chinese Taipei got 4 points (game to 17) against Japan, 5 from Canada and 10 from Great Britain, so for them to get 7 against Japan this time around and 9 from Australia shows considerable improvement in the last 12 months. Wei-chiao Chang was the star at Worlds, with 26 assists for the tournament, and seems to be dominating the O again with 5 assists so far this time around. Lin-yi Lee is also replicating his performance from Worlds with 9 goals so far - the highest for the tournament - after 14 goals in 2008. Ying Li Huang is their top female target, with 3 goals and 1 assist so far (11 goals in 2008).

The USA/Canada game was expected to be a close, tough match up and perhaps a preview of the gold medal match. Both had relatively tough games in the morning - Canada overcoming GB after two breaks following long points, and the USA defeating Australia after a late break. Canada stayed with the US early on, but after about 20 minutes of gameplay the US broke away and went on a 10 to 3 run to close out the game inside an hour. The US defence was on fire, generating turns and then quick goals. Bart Watson and Dylan Tunnell were nailing their hucks, with Gabe Saunkeah and Chelsea Putnam on the end of them. Canada were trying to run a similar aggressive offence but weren't connecting on their long shots and fumbled close range throws under pressure from the US defence.

In the Japan-Great Britain game, Japan looked set to run away with a big win when they were up 12-5 about one hour in. Great Britain then dug their heels in and switched to their pommy (lol) zone. This proved to be successful and, after a couple of points with multiple turns, went on a 5 goal run to bring it back to 12-10. Key goal scorer (23 goals in 2008) Jane Holmes was on the end of two of them. Japan finally broke through the zone to take the win 13-10.


Today's games are (all times in AEST)...

10:30am - Australia vs Great Britain
12:00pm - United States vs Chinese Taipei
1:30pm - Canada vs Japan
6:10pm - United States vs Great Britain
7:40pm - Canada vs Chinese Taipei
9:10pm - Japan vs Australia

Both of today's games are must-wins for the Crocs if they want to make the gold medal game. Height is going to be the obvious advantage over Japan, with the Dowles, Mike Neild and Lauren Brown looking to be the deep targets. The danger man on the Japanese side is Masahiro Matsuno, who has 5 goals and 5 assists so far (23 goals and 20 assists in 2008). Sachiko Sameshima is the female target, with 4 goals for the tournament. For the Great Britain game we need to avoid all Ashes analogies since that didn't work on Day 6 at Worlds last year. The handling strength of Jonno Holmes and Liz Edye will be the key to taking apart the pommy zone.

Follow the games (well, text updates anyway) here, with commentary from the one and only Piers Truter via his Twitter feed. Also of interest is Jonathan Potts' Twitter feed as he schmoozes with IWGA and IOC officials.


Edit: The website I was looking at got the fixture wrong. Fixed it up now.