Friday was qualifying for the Open's and women's divisions at WFDF Worlds 2010 in Prague. On the ladies side, Pilipinas Bebots, the home team, defeated China's D-CUUP (China United Ultimate Party) 9-7 (video from their round-robin matchup here). This was followed by a scintillating finals between Link, from Japan, and the Boracay Dragons, the world-famous beach Ultimate team that can more than hold its own on grass.
Link, with nine active players, jumped out to a 10-5 lead before the one-point hard cap went on. The Japanese players then took turns cramping up in the stifling heat and removing themselves from the field while Boracay came storming back. It was 10-9 when Link scored, but by that time the tourney organizers had announced the game would go to 13. The Dragons, who in the semis erased a seemingly insurmountable deficit to beat the Flippers on Universe Point, built on the crowd's energy, while Link faded before everyone's eyes. The Japanese squad made it 12-10 before the Dragons took the next three.
While the Japanese players collapsed on the field from exhaustion and disappointment, several of them in tears, the tourney organizers made an announcement that because the game was capped at 11, and because Link got there first, Link was actually the winner. The last five points or so were just for show.
It took a few minutes before this fact settled in with the players, but when it did, the response it generated was so mixed that in the end all anyone can say was there really wasn't a loser. Spectators poured onto the field to congratulate players from both sides, and when the day was done we were exhilarated by both what we had just seen and the prospect of a two-day tourney that would begin the next morning.
UPDATE: Videos here.
Black Flag vs. competition:
vs. Cherifer, W 11-0
vs. Vudoo, W 11-3
vs. Freakshow, W 11-5
vs. Boracay Dragons, W 11-2
+34 point differential after Day 1
Quarterfinals vs. Hong Kong Junk, W 11-1
Semifinals vs. Team Philippines, W 9-8
Finals vs. Shiock 13-4
Behind the play of Filipino pickups Christian and Donald and the rock-solid leadership of Alec, Nads and Milan, Shanghai Huwa beat Ringers of Fire in the finals of the Hong Kong tournament to win its fourth tournament of the year (after Tianjin, Shanghai and Dalian). According to the grapevine, Huwa and Ringers traded points more or less all the way to Universe, scored by Shanghai -- probably Donald, who was unstoppable.
More details to come later.
Beijing Big Brother finished second. More details in the coming days.
Much, much more to come next week, when this correspondent returns from Borneo.
Serious congratulations to Mo'chi, the Japan-Taiwan team led by all-around good guy Yoshio, who beat Pilipinas in a riveting final, 11-10.
Pilipinas appeared to pull away halfway through the game and led 9-6 when cap was called, making it a game to 11. They also led 10-7 before Mo'chi, through three or so layout D's, fought its way to four straight points. The final score was a swirly backhand huck caught in the far corner of the end zone.
A message from Lance DuBos:
I hope everyone is safe and sound back home. Thanks so much for coming; we loved having you. So many great games, and great spirit throughout. Thank heaven (or secret Singapore government policies) for great weather.
Results are attached [ed's note: we'll post later]. Not all placement games were played, hence the ties for various ranks.
Pools C & D played out exactly to seed, Pool A had two flips between 2 & 3, 5 & 6. Pool B was the only wacky one. China were supposed to be good, right? Sorry, Alec, had to drop one good heckle since you weren't within mic range.
The video will be edited and we hope to have a DVD to show at Manila if possible. Both finalists will also get a copy.
Congratulations to Shanghai Huwa, which went undefeated (7-0) in its home tournament over the weekend, beating Singapore Freakshow in the finals. This is the third straight year Huwa has won the Shanghai Open, which is an impressive streak in any sport but more so in Asia Ultimate considering the consistency of player turnover.
This year's tournament, Emperor's Reign, was dedicated to Andrew Kleimeyer, a long-time China resident and former Shanghai Open tournament director who recently passed away. A 50-50 raffle was held in his name with half the proceeds going to the Barrett Cancer Center of University Hospital. Alec Hutson delivered a heartfelt tribute on Sunday during the awards ceremony. We'll try to get a video up later this week.
The tournament wasn't without its snags, most notably an 11th hour switcheroo of seeding (going by both the written tourney rules and a Saturday announcement, Freakshow, 4-0, was supposed to be the one-seed and Huwa the two, but organizers decided on Sunday morning to bump up Huwa under the justification that Huwa's pool was more difficult). But in the grand scheme of things, most complaints were limited to the weather -- it was muggy and hot, as always -- and there was only so much Alec, Mary Carlson and Glenn could do about that. Commendations to tourney organizers.
The Mythical Seven had representatives from Beijing (Tory Hislop), Shanghai (Gareth Marshall and Tina Yen), Tianjin (Matt Wang, 王敏), Singapore Shiock (Sweeney), Southwest All-Stars (Adrian Reif) and Philippines (Fiaka). Beijing won the party award for going to the Saturday party as Doozers, from Jim Henson's classic Muppets show Fraggle Rock, which was appropriate for the "Construction" theme. A few of them almost blended in with actual construction workers around the Bund, who must have wondered why these hard-hatters were wearing green tights.
Jon Greenberg of Huwa, who is wrapping up his one-year stay in China next month to pursue a Ph.D. back in the States, won a very well deserved tourney MVP award. Dawn Yeo Poletti of Freakshow was named female MVP.
Check back with China Ultimate in the coming days for pictures and further coverage of the 11th annual Shanghai Open.
Picture by Mike Shyu
Hong Kong began its tournament with 13-1 and 13-2 wins -- the latter against the Beijing Ugly Trolls, a Big Brother split-squad -- and never looked back en route to capturing the No. 1 overall seed and winning its first team championship in Asia Ultimate in quite a while. (Someone know how many years it's been?)
It was a redemptive weekend for Hong Kong captain Mike Hsu, who was part of an epic meltdown in the first China Nationals in 2007, when HK took half 7-1 in the finals only to give up seven unanswered and eventually lose. He was all smiles this time around -- when his teammates doused him with ice water during a combined team picture with Beijing Bang, when the awards were being presented in the stands, when he was handed the trophy, when he drank out of it... sweet and satisfying.
His team won with defense and precision on offense, two areas of the game the Chinese teams can still improve on. It didn't hurt that they added Kwong from Ringers of Fire, who made the tourney's eight-member all-star team, and a couple other key foreigners. For the most part, though, Hong Kong was a squad of local players, and their pride and determination showed. Their only blemish came in pool play against Shanghai Y in the third game. It didn't matter: they still finished its four pool games with a plus-24 point differential. They were pushed in only two other games, both against Tianjin Five Star, the tourney's 1-seed going in. In the semis on Sunday, Hong Kong led 7-2 and 8-3, only to see Tianjin roar back and tie the game at 9. Hong Kong prevailed only after a dramatic universe point, setting up its finals against Beijing Bang.
Yes, Beijing Bang: the sixth seed entering the weekend and seventh seed after pool play, a team that had to play a fifth game Saturday (pre-quarters) and beat the second and third seeds to reach finals. It was, needless to say, one of the most improbable runs anyone's seen in a long time, especially considering they lost to the Dalian Smurfs and Tianjin Speed in back-to-back games on Saturday.
The upset of the year, against No. 2 Shenzhen, was aided by gusting winds and a solid cup zone -- and also because Shenzhen's best player, Gareth, injured his hand on a layout catch. Bang's zone carried them to another two-point victory against the 3-seed, Air Kazak, whose two-year run as China's best team ended most shockingly. Let it be said here for the record, however, that they wore the crown well.
The finals started out close, with Bang's Mike Shyu making a couple spectacular catches and Ds. It was 3-3* when Hong Kong called a timeout and Bang's captain, Ken Su, delivered one of the more entertaining and hilarious team speeches anyone's heard in a while (you'll have to ask them what he said). It wasn't enough: behind a zone of its own, Hong Kong reeled off 10 of the next 11 points to win 13-4.
*I've been informed Bang was up 3-2.
A big congratulations and thank you to tournament director Jeff Orcutt, who spent hundreds of hours preparing, and Five Ultimate co-owner Zahlen Titcomb, whose organization has more or less made China Nationals happen in each of its three years. This year we had 20 teams -- up from 15 in 2008 -- and about 250 players, by far the best turnout thus far. We only expect this tournament to grow.
We'll have pictures up as soon as China unblocks Blogspot (we're writing this via proxy, so: no hyperlinks, no picture uploading), which could take a couple days or weeks, if the history of YouTube censorship has taught us anything. In the meantime, here are some links to Facebook albums:
Duff Douglas, player-coach of the International School of Beijing Dragons (Red), a team of high school students who really played above their heads and beat Shanghai X in the quarters on Sunday before pushing Beijing Ugly to universe point in the semis: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80278&id=504839598
From that album, this http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1864952&id=504839598#/photo.php?pid=1864953&id=504839598 is a photo of Joe fouling the sh** out of a high school student in the end zone.
Stephanie Kwan:
--Some nice action shots: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=3&aid=2175520&id=12812853
--Saturday night party and Sunday showcase and finals http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2185635&id=12812853 (Joe's sweet layout http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=35648653&id=12812853)
--Mostly group and team pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=1&aid=2185796&id=12812853
Much more coverage later. We should note, for posterity's sake, that Beijing's combined team beat Shanghai's combined team in a shortened showcase game, 6-4. Perhaps they'll meet again in the Shanghai tourney in four weeks.
The Dirty Old KUNTs, to be exact, who beat Shanghai Huwa 13-8 in the finals.
Absolutely perfect conditions for this year's Jeju International Gnarly Nines Tournament, an event that's been saddled with the unfortunate reputation of being cursed by the wind gods. Every odd year, however, the elements seems to cooperate, and this, the fifth edition of this international tourney, may have seen the best weather ever.
Of course, the rain clouds made up for lost time by sending a monsoon our way Monday morning. Only the early-morning (7 a.m. early) flight made it out as scheduled; all others were postponed till the following day. We can only assume -- like during metropolitan blackouts and winters in Russia -- the stranded participants copulated like bonobos.
More pictures and videos to come...
All-female 2v2 disc race at the after-party
We're still in the process of collecting information for the official recap of this past Saturday's Tianjin tournament, but here were the key happenings:
Shanghai Huwa -- an abridged version led by Jon Greenberg -- won the A pool, beating ISB, Tianjin Waiyuan, Beijing Bang and Tianjin Speed.
Beijing Big Brother won the B pool (though word was Beijing was the No. 1 overall seed), consisting of Changsha (长沙, a Tianjin/Qingdao mix), Teda (with some Dalian players and foreigners), Air Kazak and Tianjin Speed Up.
The pool winners met in the finals. Shanghai jumped out to a 2-1 lead before the teams engaged in a long fourth point that saw two goal line turnovers and an injury (Beijing's Tao -- okay, me -- as he tried changing directions on an in-cut). Shanghai took half at eight and extended its lead to 9-6 before Big Brother clawed back with three unanswered points. An energized (or intoxicated) murmur wormed its way through the crowd -- chilled by a brisk wind on a suddenly cloudy evening -- but the suspense quickly ended when Shanghai scored the next two to win 11-9.
Beijing Bang won the Spirit Award and, like Shanghai, got a trophy out of which they drank beer. Shanghai's players also each received a Frisbee and a municipal government official-signed/endorsed certificate in the form of a red card.
Pictures follow.
Mike Shyu's Facebook albums (check out his videos, too):
One:
Waiting for the Beijing Party Bus in front of Ginza Mall
Two: beautiful eye (picture tag)
The Shyu man himself, with Kevin Reitz
Three: Members of Big Brother, Bang and Shanghai
Four:
Five:
Six:
Seven:
Eight: Hail the champs and the tourney organizer
Edward Wang, man of the hour
Nine: After-party
Yin Kong
The party was pretty spectacular. More on that in the next post.
One more picture -- the man who made the party bus (and so much of Frisbee-related activities in Beijing) happen:
Jeff Orcutt, fresh from a pee
These are from Ningbo-based professional photographer M. Scott Brauer, who played on the winning team, Dynomite:
More here.
More pictures!
Facebook albums -- again, we turn to Mary Carlson of Shanghai to start:
Party Bus to Ningbo Hat: In Mary's words: "Russian Monkeys. Hot Pepper Snacks. The Best Speaker System Ever. The first mention of the Boat. Incredibly amazing Pee Stories. Sara in a State of SEVERE emergency for way too long. And, some Burrows as Bus Driver."
Party Bus to Ningbo Hat Extras: "The contest of who has more GAME is now in full effect. Kevin Chao is the judge. The contest date has yet to be decided. Who will be named the Victor?"
Dinner... So Much To Eat!: "This was the never-ending Chinese dinner with some of the best veggie dishes I have had in a while. The best was the Teppanyaki Tofu, but my account. I ate with three different tables, so I think that I might be the best judge!"
Party Time: "Cold. Crazy Boat Dance Game that had Michael Burrows up on stage, and some fantastic Starbucks action."
Bus Back to Shanghai. Straight Chill: "Tired. Except for maybe a couple of people who had way too much energy for a Sunday night!"
Roy Iceman: Ningbo Hat tournament
Sei Xue: Ningbo 1st Hat Tournament
For fear of rousing deep envy followed by hatred, this is all we'll show from the recently concluded Boracay Beach Tournament, won by the world-famous Boracay Dragons (they beat the Ben Wiggins-led American team 15-7 in a sun-baked finals on possibly the most beautiful beach in the world, preserving their perfect home record):
Pictures courtesy of Beijing Ultimate's Jeff Orcutt.
POSTSCRIPT: Here's an article about the Boracay Dragons -- "The Soul of Phillippine Ultimate" -- in Ben Wiggins's Ultimate site, In the Huddle. And here's a short tourney preview from the site Beach Ultimate Lovers Assocation.
