Day 6 - Getting Closer to the Medals
Liam Milne
Just a quick progress update while play continues in the 51st APBF Championships. I will update further on this site at the end of Day 7 as the final showdowns start to shape up for Monday’s medal rounds.
After today’s matches, there will be three matches left to play in the Open, two matches in the Ladies, three in the Seniors, two in the Juniors, and one 28-board match in the Girls. Due to the nature of the draw, many of the last two matches will feature massively important clashes between teams vying for similar spots in the rankings - or second and third on the podium. Follow the scores on Monday morning for some tense moments and cheer our teams on.
Around 2:30 PM Australian time on Monday we will know the final placings in the Ladies, Juniors and U25 Girls, and around 6:00 PM for the final results in the Open and Seniors.
The Hotel Riviera in Seoul: the venue of the 51st APBF Championships.
The Open team needed a good day on Saturday. They were playing four teams beneath them on the ladder, and Saturday was supposed to be the tilt at the top places they had been hoping for. They didn’t quite the results they wanted, two wins and two losses from the day, with nothing by big margins. 38.57 VPs from four matches was just under average, and they are now 40 VPs off the podium with seven matches to play. Time is running out, but we will see how they do on Sunday.
The Ladies won the Trans-Tasman clash against the New Zealand women by a single IMP - good enough to brag about! They backed up with good wins against both Korea 2 and India: 17.77 and 16.03 respectively. They are still in second position, 27 VPs behind the leaders, China, who they play in the penultimate round on Day 8 (Monday), and 13 VPs ahead of Chinese Taipei who they play on Day 7.
The two Seniors teams are in similar positions to where they have been the last few days, but Australia 1 has made progress on the podium positions. After Saturday’s matches were over, they were on 267.00 VPs, just 13 behind third place. First and second are likely too far away, but we are hoping for a shot at the bronze. They play all of the top four teams today, and it is possible for Australia to be well in the hunt or well out of it by the end of Day 7. Good luck to them.
Australia 2 had another disappointing day and slipped a little in the rankings. They played the same four teams that Australia 1 play today, the top four ranked teams, and did have a few bright moments. They beat China Hong Kong in the first match 56-40 (14.42), but then had three losses to Japan 1, China (only by a few IMPs), and DJARUM ICBA (Indonesia). Tomorrow should be an easier day of them and they will hope to make something of it.
The Juniors played their first three matches in the third and final round robin of the event. They started with Korea who were near the bottom and got the job done, 18.76 VPs. Against another weak team, Japan, they scraped out a small win, 11.28, and had a predictably close affair against China Hong Kong (who we tied against last time), losing by 2 IMPs. They finished the day in third by a whopping 0.19 VPs over fourth place.
Tomorrow will be make or break for the Juniors. They expect to slip a little in the rankings as some of the teams around them play weaker teams, but on Monday they play last-ranked Thailand followed by a likely crucial match against Chinese Taipei in the final round. They know the only positions that matter are the ones at the end of the event - keep it up boys!
The Girls had the perfect start in the morning on Saturday. They were in 4th, about 12 VPs behind China Hong Kong in 3rd. But the Girls won by 73 IMPs against Thailand to score 19.62, and meanwhile China Hong Kong were beaten by 90 IMPs to score 0.00! This saw our girls leapfrog the Hong Kong team into third. In the afternoon, the Girls were disappointed to lose moderately to Chinese Taipei 1 (scoring 5.07) but China Hong Kong were wishing they had taken the day off as they scored only 2.90 against China.
The Girls are in third place, just. They play top-ranked China today, followed by Indonesia – the best two teams in the event aside from Australia. Best of luck to our young internationals as they battle against some of the best youth players in Asia.
Standings in the Open Championship with seven matches to play.
One last mention - the NZ Open team continue to put the heat on. They scored a bit over average from the day and are in second place, just 2.93 VPs off the lead - very exciting for all Kiwi supporters. The NZ Ladies are fifth out of twelve in their series.
I will aim to get out a progress report on Sunday night before the excitement of the final matches on Monday. Until then, enjoy following the scores and watching vugraph!
Posted by Liam Milne on Sunday, 4 June 2017 at 16:46