China will play the Republic of Korea for the gold medal in the women’s team event, while Japan plays DPR Korea for the bronze. In one semifinal match the Chinese team downed the Japanese team 2-1: Zheng Yan and Wang Xiangyun defeated Aoki Kikuyo and Koyama Terumi on the first two boards, making Tang Yi’s loss to Suzuki Ayumi on the last board immaterial. The other semifinal match had a similar outcome: Kim Hyemin and Kwon Hyojin won for the Republic of Korea, defeating Hwang Kyongju and Ro Jina on boards one and two, while Park Jiyun lost to DPR Korea’s Kim Yumi on board three.

Team Rep. of Korea

Team Romania

In the men’s team competition, the team from the Republic of Korea shut out the team from Chinese Taipei 5-0 in block A, while the team from China beat the Japanese team 3-2 in block B. Japan’s Yoda Norimoto bested China’s Chang Hao on the first board and Kono Rin beat Ding Wei on the last board, but on the three middle boards China’s Kong Jie, Xie He, and Piao Wenyao defeated Japan’s Hane Naoki, Takao Shinji, and Yamashita Keigo. Elsewhere in block B, the Romanians downed the Polish team 5-0 while the youthful team from Hong Kong China nosed out the Hungarians 3-2. In block A, DPR Korea scored four wins to defeat Macau China, while the team from the Netherlands beat yesterday’s heros from Germany 3-2.

Kamon Santipojana and Pattraporn Phuriwangsakul

In pair go competition, the Mongolian duo of Tungalag Ravjir and Sansar Tsolmon finally lost—to Pattraporn Phuriwangasakul and Kamon Santipojana from Thailand. In the final round the Mongolians will play the Ukranian pair to sort out first and second place in block D, after which the Mongolians and the Ukranians will both proceed into the knockout. The knockout qualifiers from the other blocks have also been decided: China and Czechia in block A, the two Koreas in block B, and Japan and Hungary in block C. After the final preliminary round in the afternoon, these eight amateur pairs will take on eight professional pairs tomorrow.

– James Davies