|
沙发
楼主 |
发表于 2014-1-2 12:36:59
|
只看该作者
Dear all Othello-players,
2013 is soon history, and I hope you all have had a good Othello-year. This year started with a large tournament in Japan, Othello World Cup 2013. The tournament was arranged to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of Othello in Japan, and about 60 players from all over the world was invited to join the tournament. We who were privileged to take part in this celebration had a great time together in Tokyo.
In Europe the European Grand Prix (EGP) has been organized as every year, and in 2013 Greece was a new tournament entry. At the EGP tournaments there are always a great number of top players, but there seems to be a problem recruiting new players. All the federations seem to have a crisis of new players while the top ones still continue to play. In the end of the year Europe has started to formalize the rules of the EGP.
In Asia have Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and China continued organizing their tournaments as usual. Vietnam is under consideration as a new Othello country, and arranged a tournament in September.
Players in Asia found hard time to participate in the World Othello Championship as most of them do not have sponsorships, and expenditures to Europe is quite expensive. If the WOC could be organized in Asia, it would be good for them.
In Americas there have been official tournaments in USA, Argentina and Brazil. There is no registered activity in other countries, but there are people searching for information in Venezuela and Colombia.
In 2013 World Othello Federation arranged the 37th World Othello Championship (WOC) in Stockholm, Sweden. This was the first time WOF was alone responsible for the tournament. The tournament was sponsored by local Swedish companies and some enthusiastic Othello players.
It is a lot of work to arrange such a tournament, and I want to thank all of you that contributed to make this tournament possible. A special thanks to Benkt Steentoft as Head Tournament Director and Emmanuel Lazard as Technical Tournament Director!
WOF will continue to arrange WOC in same spirit as it has been done so far. In November WOF and Megahouse started up discussions about a sponsorship agreement. Megahouse has informed us that Othello World Cup (OWC) will not continue. OWC in Singapore 2014 will be the last OWC in this format. Megahouse as Trademark holder in parts of the world is therefore very interested to cooperate with WOF and make it possible so the WOC can continue as the most important Othello tournament every year in the future. Of course WOF also continues discussions with Anjar about the Othello future.
I believe in a good future for our loved game Othello, and hope that we together with Megahouse and Anjar can make the game more popular and well-known in 2014.
I wish you all a Happy New Year, and hope you all will have an Othellofantastic year in 2014.
Tor Birger Skogen
President, World Othello Federation
|
|