The World Games so far.

After two days of round robin, the Aussie Crocs are in with a chance of taking home a bronze medal.

Viv Yuen
Viv Yuen
Jul 23, 2017 · 3 min read

If you’re into niche sports like me, you may already be aware that the 10th World Games is taking place right now in Poland. Where possible, I’ve been trying to follow ultimate and climbing, although that has been proving difficult with the time differences and what’s actually available to watch and re-watch. From what I can gather, the Olympic Channel has only one stream dedicated to the events of The World Games and it is unclear how screen time is allocated to to different sports. Results for each of the disciplines can be found on The World Games website itself, although I still have not been able to locate the a running summary of pool play standings and point differentials for the ultimate division except for an image uploaded by Chancle En Linea (who have also been responsible for the odd Facebook live stream from the crowd at the games). Thankfully, due to the Facebook live stream and a local Polish stream that has covered all the ultimate games (you’ll have to translate the page and enable Flash in order to watch), I have been able to see all of the teams in action at least once. However, there have been no replays uploaded so far and it has been incredibly difficult to analyse or comment on the games if you are not available to watch them live in the early hours of the morning.

‘Stepping stone to the Olympics’… I genuinely wonder if permanently defining yourself in relation to The Olympics contributes unnecessarily to an inferiority complex for the sports that are included in this tournament. The World Games is just another international sporting meet at which world class athletes compete at the highest level possible for their chosen sport. Let the competition speak for itself.

So far, the six competing countries have played four matches each in a round robin with Colombia (4–0) undefeated at the top of the table, followed by USA (3–1), Canada (2–2), Australia (2–2), Japan (1–3) and, host country, Poland (0–4) rounding out the table. With one round robin match left for each of the countries, I predict these standings will remain the same after the fifth game especially if Australia doesn’t adapt their play more than I have seen so far: Colombia have skill, depth and athleticism on offense that I predict will cope with Australia’s unusual defensive zone set, as well as excellent match defense which I think will sort out Australia’s go-to, huck-and-D offensive strategy. Similarly, I think Canada will be able to pull a Win out of the bag against Japan, who look less threatening than they have in the past without Matsuno or the Buzz Bullets (where are we on that, by the way?). Finally, I predict that USA will win resoundingly against Poland. At this point in the tournament, the USA and Colombia have already secured their places in the gold medal and Canada, Australia and Japan will have to put in good performances in last round robin games today should a three-way tie occur and the chance to play off for a bronze medal goes to points differentials. Australia’s game against Colombia will start at 5:00 pm AEST and the match will be streamed live on The Olympic Channel.

Courtesy of Chancle En Linea. Where did they find this? I do not know.

In this post I also wanted to speak broadly issues surrounding gender equity in ultimate that I have been highlighted at The World Games so far but since the game is starting in 10 minutes I will have to publish that piece later on. Happy watching! Up the Crocs!

Viv Yuen

Written by

Viv Yuen

Tall walls, flat balls, public health, #gequity. Editing The Thrill of the Game. instagram.com/v.betelgeuse/

Thrill of the Game

The thrill of the game is more than what happens on the field. The thrill of the game changes lives through what dreams become possible for any individual or group empowered through sport. Follow TofTG for a fresh perspective in sports coverage.

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