SEVENTH HEAVEN FOR TERRIFIC TAMENORI

Defending World Champion Hideshi Tamenori consolidated his status as the World's greatest Othello player by winning his seventh title by beating former compatriot and 1997 World Champion Makoto Suekuni (competing in his third final in four years) 40-24, 28-36, 33-31. The win saw Tamenori gain revenge for his 43-21 defeat to Suekuni in round 5. Tamenori also despatched 2003 and 2004 World Champion Ben Seeley 38-26, 34-30 in his semi-final while Suekuni beat another former compatriot, Tetsuya Nakajima, 34-30, 45-19 in the other semi-final. The performances of both Tamenori and Nakajima along with that of Tsukasa Imaoka ensured that Japan also retained the team title. A hat-trick of Japanese honours was completed by Toshimi Tsuji's victory in the Women's final, after beating Hong Kong's elite team member Katie Wu Shuk Man 35-25.

Of the British players, Michael Handel finished highest (joint-9th on 8) while Iain Barrass and Geoff Hubbard both finished joing 64th on 5. Yvette Campbell, having to cope with jetlag and little time to acclimatise due to work commitments, would always find it difficult amongst a very strong and experienced field. Yvette did however, have one moment of glory, which came in the tenth round when she beat Israel's Lev Radzivilovsky 37-27 - a win against quite a useful player.