GAELIC SPORTS WORLD Issue 17 – January 10, 2015 | Page 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. 10 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.