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China Dominates World Youth - Again

China won both divisions of the 29th World Youth Go Championship, repeating their victories in this event from last year.  The week-long tourney wrapped up on August 21, and was sponsored by the Ing Foundation. Twenty-two young players came from all over the world to vie for the top slot in the Junior (under 12) and Senior (under 16) divisions.  The tournament was held in Luoyang, China, a city with more than 3,000 years of history.  The US sent Calvin Sun 7d in the Sr. and Aaron Ye 5d in the Jr. along with Team Leader Mingjiu Jiang 7P. "China, Korea, and Taiwan sent out top youth professional players, all with great expectations of winning the tournament," reports Calvin Sun, "through the intense competition, a bit of luck, and the guidance of the USA team leader, Mingjiu Jiang 7p, I got into the Semi-Finals with just one more SOS point than Korea’s representative. Everyone was shocked that Korea’s new female professional did not advance into the Semi-Finals. Japan’s representative, however, fiercely fought into the top four, defeating both Korea and Taiwan in the preliminaries and defeating Taiwan again in the Semi-Finals.  We went sightseeing on the third day of the competition, going to places such as the White Horse Temple, which was the first Buddhist temple in China, and the Shaolin Temple, where monks demonstrated their boundless skills of Chinese kungfu." Winner's Report: Senior Division: 1st: China, Li Qin Cheng; 2nd:  Japan, Koyama Kuya; 3rd: Taiwan, Cheng-Hsun Chen; 4th: USA, Calvin Sun. Junior Division: 1st: China, Wang Shiyi; 2nd: Korea, I-Hyeon Chae; 3rd: Japan, Ueno Asami; 4th: Taiwan, Huang Shi-Yuan; 6th: USA, Aaron Ye. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor.  Photo by Yanchen Sun: Calvin Sun 7d(l) vs. Li Qin Cheng