GAELIC SPORTS WORLD Issue 17 – January 10, 2015 | Página 10

ASIA
Some 20 clubs are spread across a huge geographic area, and
like Europe, Asia GAA have to accommodate multiple cultures and languages.
One of the first tournaments of 2015 taking place in Asia
is the annual Coconut Cup. This competition takes place in
Kuala Lumper in January. Invitational tournaments are popular
in the region but the main tournaments during the year are the
South Asia Games in April, China
Games in May, North Asia Games
in June/July and the big event the
Asian Gaelic Games in October.
The South Asia Games last year
were held in Hanoi, Vietnam and
featured teams from Singapore,
Kuala Lumpur, Saigon, and Thailand competing in ladies and men’s
football as well as at youth level.
Singapore, who have been the top
Photo: Asia GAA.
team in the region once again came
out best in both grades and will be
the teams to beat once more this year. Orange Eire sides from
Kuala Lumpur will be expected to show well once again. Thai
and Japanese ladies teams are also developing nicely in the
region.
South Korea initiated a new national league over the past
number of years with teams from Daegu, Busan and Seoul
competing in monthly tournaments. Round 1 got underway
in May in Busan and returned there for the final round in
August. Seoul came through best in both codes to take the
championship and look to continue in that vein this year. The
Laochra Busan club finished in second place in the championships and no doubt will look to upset the league favourites
in 2015.

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While final dates have not been set yet for Asia tournaments,
the All China Games are due to take place in May/June and
last year’s record number of 20 teams bodes well for the 2015
event. Like in other areas of Asia, the makeup of players is
largely Irish diaspora base, but it also has a growing local and
international players numbers from places like the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, England, Scotland, France, and
Belgium.

Shanghai was the venue last year and it was very competitive
with Shanghai retaining their men’s title but their ladies were
piped at the posts by Hong Kong for the China championship. These two sides will go into this year’s tournament as
favourites.
In the months of June/July the North Asia Games is due
to take place. After a three year absence this tournament
returned last year in Seoul and featured teams from Busan,
Daegu and Japan, in addition to players who travelled from
Myanmar and China for the event. Hosts Seoul Gaels proved
strongest in both the men’s and ladies codes and will be ones
to watch again this summer. Expect Busan to make a charge
this season.