11th East Asian Battlegame Championship
11th East Asian Battlegame Championship took place in Sednîr, New South Cambria, between July 9th and August 16th of 2007.
Participants
The following sixteen nations qualified to the championship:
- Insular Japan
- Bornei-Filipinas
- Siam
- English Australia
- Beihanguo
- Kingsland
- Srivijaya
- Fiji
- New South Cambria
- Canton
- Korea
- Mazapahit
- Nanhanguo
- Hunan
- Aotearoa
- Cambodia
They were partitioned into four groups. Two better teams of each group advanced to the playoffs.
The qualifications to the championships, especially its Challange phase, brought many surprises. Less Chinese teams qualified than usual with powerful Fujian, Taiwan and Hainan and Shanghai teams not qualifying. Australasian teams, the traditional enemies of Chinese teams, also had their casualties - Guerentia fell in the Challange phase. However, English Australia did qualify surprisingly and therefore the number of Australasian teams in the championship remained the same as that in the 10th East Asian Battlegame Championship - 4. Powerful Nam Viet team did not manage to overcome neighbors Cambodia in the Challange phase which meant that the Khmers who are usually shadowed by neighboring countries were able to play at the highest level. Fiji also qualified and became the first team of independent Oceania to enter East Asian championship after a long time.
Results
Group I
Insular Japan triumphed as expected, while the East Asian champions of 11th cycle Bornei-Filipinas performed not that well, losing decisively to Japan at the end. However, this performance was enough to secure place at the playoffs. Siam, on the other hand, fought hard for that place, lost only by a landslide to Japan, but lost to Bornei-Filipinas and did not manage to win against English Australia. The belief of English Australians that their team was stronger than ever may have been unfounded as the team used to play well only at the first half of the matches (it was 1:1 against Japan and 2:1 against Siam early in the game).
Insular Japan-English Australia 6:2
Bornei-Filipinas-Siam 4:3
Siam-Insular Japan 3:4
English Australia-Bornei-Filipinas 2:4
Siam-English Australia 3:3
Insular Japan-Bornei-Filipinas 6:3
- Insular Japan: +5
- Bornei-Filipinas: 0
- Siam: -2
- English Australia: -3
Group IJ
The start was hard for both favorites Baihanguo and Kingsland as Beihanguo did not manage to beat Fiji decisively while Kingsland lost against Srivijaya. Srivijayans did not manage to use the early advantage however as they lost decisively to Beihanguo and later lost to Fiji.
Beihanguo-Fiji 5:3
Kingsland-Srivijaya 3:4
Srivijaya-Beihanguo 2:5
Fiji-Kingsland 1:5
Srivijaya-Fiji 2:3
Beihanguo-Kingsland 4:4
- Beihanguo: +3
- Kingsland: +1
- Srivijaya: -2
- Fiji: -2
Group IIJ
New South Cambria dominated in this group and Mazapahit did not manage to put up much fight (with the exception of real fights which caused several Mazapahitian leaders to be disqualified). The real battle in this group was between Korea and Canton. Both teams ended up with 0 points but Korea (which demonstrated a great defensive capability) advanced because of better results and eliminated one of the most powerful Chinese teams.
New South Cambria-Mazapahit 7:2
Canton-Korea 1:1
Korea-New South Cambria 2:3
Mazapahit-Canton 3:4
Korea-Mazapahit 2:1
New South Cambria-Canton 6:4
- New South Cambria: +4
- Korea: 0
- Canton: 0
- Mazapahit: -4
Group IIIJ
From the very start the results in this group were interesting. Cambodia scored a win against one of the most powerful East Asian teams Nanhanguo and then defeated another Chinese team Hunan which made Cambodians to be named "The destroyers of China" by the Australasian press. Aotearoa, on the other hand, fought to the end as always, but did not manage to defeat both Chinese teams. Neither Hunan nor Nanhanguo scored a decisive victory against Aotearoa however. The final two matches brought even more surprises, as Cambodia, probably already preparing for the quarterfinals, lost decisively to Aotearoans. That way Cambodian hopes were shattered while Aotearoa had good possibilities despite of a bad start. But Nanhanguo and Hunan match ended up in a draw which meant that these two teams went to quarterfinals and eliminated Aotearoa. Australasians immidietly accused Hunan and Nanhanguo of agreeing upon the result before the match to which one Hunanese player responded by accusing Aotearoans of securing their decisive victory against Cambodia only by bribing some players of that team.
Nanhanguo-Cambodia 3:4
Hunan-Aotearoa 5:3
Aotearoa-Nanhanguo 4:6
Cambodia-Hunan 3:2
Aotearoa-Cambodia 6:3
Nanhanguo-Hunan 3:3
- Nanhanguo: 0
- Hunan: 0
- Aotearoa: 0
- Cambodia: 0
Playoffs
Three of the quarterfinal games were pretty much one-sided, with Beihanguo easily eliminating the East Asian champions of the 10th cycle Bornei-Filipinas, Kingsland unable to come up after losing several rounds in a row at the start and New South Cambria avenging for the Aotearoans. The fourth quarterfinal battle between Korea and Nanhanguo ended up in an unusual result for Battlgame 1:0. Korean victory in 11th round proved too much to compensate for its opponents due to great Korean defense. In the semifinals the Koreans shown that they are capable not only of defending as they defeated Beihanguo unexpectedly after several overtimes. Therefore what the fans regarded to be a great Chinese victory (with 3 teams entering the quarterfinals) turned into a defeat as none of them went to the finals. New South Cambria managed to defeat Insular Japan after a hard fight in the semifinals. In the final game Korean defense did not manage to stop the New South Cambrian battle machine and the "Enesi" became the first team to hold the East Asian Championship title for three times. The champions of the 10th cycle Bornei-Filipinas lost to Nanhanguo when battling for the 5th-8th places and lost the possibility to participate in the World Championship. As such only the three stables will be represented in the World Championship each of them having two teams there.
Quarterfinals:
Insular Japan-Kingsland 8:5
New South Cambria-Hunan 9:3
Beihanguo-Bornei-Filipinas 6:1
Nanhanguo-Korea 0:1
Semifinals:
Insular Japan-New South Cambria 5:7
Beihanguo-Korea 2:3
5-8 places:
Kingsland-Hunan 6:4
Bornei-Filipinas-Nanhanguo 4:5
Final:
New South Cambria-Korea 4:1
For 3rd place:
Insular Japan-Beihanguo 7:3
For 5th place:
Kingsland-Nanhanguo 5:4
For 7th place:
Hunan-Bornei-Filipinas 3:4
Final standings
The final standings of the first eight teams (the first six qualified to the 11th World Battlegame Championship):
- New South Cambria (champions)
- Korea
- Insular Japan
- Beihanguo
- Kingsland
- Nanhanguo
- Bornei-Filipinas
- Hunan
This page was created by Abdul-aziz. |
