In a keenly contested tournament at the West Midlands Bridge Club in Solihull, where the lead changed hands many times over the eight rounds, Hitoshi Kurata finally won the event from 67 other competitors. UKMA Chairman Peter Langford was in second place, both striking a blow for the older generation, and Shuan Liang, one of the regular leaders throughout the tournament, completed the podium.
Although resident in UK for some twenty years, it was only Hitoshi’s second UK tournament. He had obviously played before though! Peter and Shuan played their parts, each winning their final hanchan, but not by a sufficient margin to catch Hitoshi, who secured his own win in the final set. All three took five first places in their eight games.
In a story of what might have been, George Twigg won the improver’s prize for the best Day 2 performance, scoring fractionally short of 100,000 in the four rounds to move from halfway to 7th place overall.
Sonia Yagi organised the tournament supremely well, with the efficient and cheerful help of friends and members of the Bridge Club – some of whom have been motivated to learn to play mahjong by their experience!