2002 World Championship in Mahjong
The 2002 World Championship in Mahjong was held at the Hotel Grand Place in Tokyo, Japan from October 23 to 27 in 2002. The title for this competition was "The Festival for Culture and Sport in Mah Jong".
The competition ran under corporation of Ningbo City Mahjong Sport Association and Japan Mahjong Organizing Committee (JMOC). JMOC was formed with 4 Japanese organizations including Japan Mahjong Federation, All-Japan Mahjong Society, Japan Health Mahjong Association, Mahjong Museum.
Competition
This championship is not certified as the official first worldwide championship in Mah jong because it had been held before World Mahjong Organization was formed in 2006.
Although it was offered from China at first and it was going to be held in Ningbo which is known as the origin of Mah jong, the location was moved to Japan because a large event was going to be held there.[1]
For this reason, the competition was held at the Hotel Grand Palace in Iidabashi, Tokyo. 100 competitors with 25 teams from 8 nations: China, Japan, USA, Taiwan, Russia, Sweden, Netherlands took part in this competition. JMOC held primarily tournaments in Tokyo and Osaka.[2]
Results
The names are ordered as Given name and Surname.
Individual
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Table Points | Mini Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mai Hatsune |  Japan |
26 | 898 |
| 2 | John J. O'Connor |  United States |
26 | 759 |
| 3 | Yūichi Ikeya | Japan |
24 | 892 |
| 4 | Aki Nikaidō | Japan |
23 | 893 |
| 5 | Jin Li |  China |
23 | 443 |
| 6 | Tomohiro Yoshida | Japan |
22 | 691 |
| 7 | Quanze Wu | China |
22 | 622 |
| 8 | Caofang Huang | China |
22 | 583 |
| 9 | Masashi Saitō | Japan |
21 | 232 |
| 10 | Junhao Cui | China |
20 | 970 |
Team
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Members | Rank | Table Points | Mini Points | Total Table Points | Total Mini Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Young Pros Team B | Japan | Kazutoshi Iwasawa | 11 | 20 | 787 | 80 | 2253 |
| Ryōichi Kajita | 16 | 20 | 446 | |||||
| Kenji Katsumata | 24 | 18 | 329 | |||||
| Tomohiro Yoshida | 6 | 22 | 691 | |||||
| 2 | Guangzhou | China | Jin Li | 5 | 23 | 443 | 76 | 1113 |
| Man Feng | 25 | 18 | 226 | |||||
| Gangliang Yu | 57 | 13 | -139 | |||||
| Caofang Huang | 8 | 22 | 583 | |||||
| 3 | Japan Health Mahjong Association | Japan | Jun Kashiwabara | 34 | 16 | 43 | 73 | 1165 |
| Noriko Maruyama | 33 | 16 | 268 | |||||
| Masashi Saitō | 9 | 21 | 232 | |||||
| Ryō Togamae | 14 | 20 | 622 | |||||
| 4 | Tianjin | China | Junhao Cui | 10 | 20 | 970 | 69 | 1432 |
| Baomin Yang | 28 | 17 | 492 | |||||
| Jianguo Li | 39 | 15 | -182 | |||||
| Jing He | 31 | 17 | 152 | |||||
| 5 | Young Pros Team A | Japan | Takunori Kajimoto | 12 | 20 | 655 | 69 | 1175 |
| Nobuhiro Kishimoto | 56 | 13 | -60 | |||||
| Dai Osamura | 30 | 17 | 195 | |||||
| Tatsuya Suzuki | 22 | 19 | 385 |
Participating countries
100 competitors with 25 teams from 8 countries participated. Although Shinnicni Tokuda who did not apply for this competition and he was Japanese, he played as Kenneth Tokuda for USA team because a vacancy occurred.[3]
Bulgaria (1)- China (35)
- Japan (41)
- United States (12)
Chinese Taipei (4)
Netherlands (3)
Russia (2)
Sweden (2)
References
- Kanazawa, Masahiro (2010-06-26). "世界麻雀選手権大会について (About 2002 World Mahjong Championship)" (PDF) (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-04-29.
- Martin, Rep (2007-11-01). "The First World Championship in Mahjong". Archived from the original on 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
- Babylon, ltd(Japanese)