International Playground Wallball Championship: Everything

[Muralos]

Thank you all for competing in the first International Playground Wallball Championship, and welcome to Urbego, the capital city of Muralos! Below is the bracket for the IWBC's double-elimination tournament.

Bracket (Real-time updating version)


Nations represented:
Crystalline Caverns (CCN)
Grey County (GRC)
Hebitaka (HTK)
Muralos (MUR)
North China (NCR) (The Northern Chinese Republic)

Tournament schedule:

• March 9: matches 1, 2, 3, 4
  1. Shi Zhang/Dai Dong (NCR) vs. Steinarr Hansen/Jon Beck (CCN)
  2. Kecheng Liu/Mai Chen (NCR) vs. Sofia Tremojosa/Georgo Chu (MUR)
  3. Jessica Axerman/Natsume Byodo (HTK) vs. Joe Schmo/Tom Schmomm (GCR)
  4. Lerta Donaldson/Georgo Zhong (MUR) vs. Kaspar Axelson/Victoria Losnedahl (CCN)
  
• March 11: matches 5, 6, 7, 8
  5. Shi Zhang/Dai Dong (NCR) vs. Sofia Tremojosa/Georgo Chu (MUR)
  6. Jessica Axerman/Natsume Byodo (HTK) vs. Lerta Donaldson/Georgo Zhong (MUR)
  7. Steinarr Hanssen/Jon Beck (CCN) vs. Kecheng Liu/Mai Chen (NCR)
  8. Joe Schmo/Tom Schomm(GRC) vs. Kaspar Axelson/Victoria Losnedahl (CCN)
• March 13: matches 9, 10
  9. Kaspar Axelson/Victoria Losnedahl (CCN) vs. Shi Zhang/Dai Dong (NCR)
  10. Kecheng Liu/Mai Chen (NCR) vs. Lerta Donaldson/Georgo Zhong (MUR)
• March 15: matches 11, 12
  11. Kecheng Liu/Mai Chen (NCR) vs. Shi Zhang/Dai Dong (NCR)
  12. Steinarr Hanssen/Jon Beck (CCN) vs. Joe Schmo/Tom Schomm (GRC)
• March 17: match 13
  13. Steinarr Hanssen/Jon Beck (CCN) vs. Shi Zhang/Dai Dong (NCR)
• March 20: match 14 (the Grand Final)

RP cut-offs will happen at or around 11 p.m. or 23:00 Eastern Standard Time (the time zone of New York City, USA). This website is useful for converting cut-off times to your local cut-off time. For any extensions or notices about a late RP, please TG Muralos.

Thanks again for participating, and have fun!

About Muralos
Muralos (Esperanto: La Unuiĝintaj Insuloj de Muralos) is a cosmopolitan collection of islands located in the corner of the Far East. Despite having been the center of many geopolitical struggles between China, Russia, and Japan-- motivated by its wealth of resources and because of historic territorial claims-- the country enjoys relative stability today. Despite being rather industrialized and urbanized, there is still much that has remained untouched on this island, and there is a certain beauty even to the cities themselves.

Cities:

(Orange indicates land under Muralosian control.)

Note: A number of groups are arguing against the renaming of cities from their former Russian names into their current, rather prosaic names in Esperanto. NSWikiTravel does not assume any stance on this issue; it only lists the names of cities as they are officially known within the nation and abroad, as well as their former names (for reference).

Muralos is divided into two main provinces: Sahaleno and Kurilo. All but one of the cities listed below, however, are located on the large, most populated island province of Sahaleno.

Urbego (formerly known as Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and before that, Toyohara)- the capital and largest city of Muralos (lit. "big city" in Esperanto)
Havenurbo (formerly Korsakov)- the southern seaport connecting Muralos with the island of Hokkaido in Japan (lit. "seaport" in Esperanto)
Okcidenta-Havenurbo (formerly Kholmsk)- the western seaport connecting Muralos with Russia
Saĥalena-Urbeto (formerly Alexandrovosk-Sakhalinsky)- the town where the noted writer Chekhov stayed (lit. "Sakhalin Town" in Esperanto)
Oleo (formerly Okha)- the northernmost city and the coldest city on average of Muralos (lit. "oil" in Esperanto)
Kurila-Urbo (formerly Yuzhno-Kurilsk)- a remote city located on Kunashira Insulo, a tiny, but populated island of the Kurilo province. For those adventurous travelers who make it there, the weather is invariably rainy or snowy, but the geography and scenery are infinitely rewarding.


(Sunset at Kurilo)

Understand:
Prior to the settlement of Russian, Japanese, etc., present-day Muralos was inhabited by a number of indigenous tribes, most notably the Nivkh, who now mostly reside in the northern portions of the country.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the island (then called Sakhalin) was fought over in back-and-forth fashion by Russia and Japan, who governed the territory's southern portion. Chinese settlements had also been established on the island, and the land was indeed ceded from Imperial China to Russia in the early days of China's formation; however, due to mounting internal issues, China did not make any concerted attempts to conquer the island after its cession, and has not ever since.

(A guard stands at the border between Russian and Japanese Sakhalin.)

In 1945, the Soviet Union gained complete control over Sakhalin, designating it as an oblast of Russia; however, it backed down two decades later due to widespread lack of support for its administration, particularly the government's treatment of the oblast as a "lesser territory." A brief, but bloody Muralosian Civil War also discouraged outside powers from intervening in the island. The residents of the island collectively decided to form the country now known as Muralos-- the name is a corruption of the Esperanto word for "walls." The new nation was recognized by the World Assembly in 1963. (N.B. Despite having been ejected from the WA in 2014, Muralos retains rather great international respect.)

Note: The Muralosian currency, the stelo, is worth approximately 0.26 US dollars. When inverted, 1 US dollar is equal to about 3.8 steloj ["STE-loy"].

(Muralosian steloj from 1959)

Talk:
The presence of the various groups on the island and the delicate issue of handling the divisions between them was of top concern to the newly established government after independence. In the early 1950s, it was voted to adopt Esperanto as the official language of the country. So as a result, Esperanto is the predominant language. While it is certainly not taken very seriously anywhere else in the world-- at least, not on a national level-- within this country the people have certainly achieved Zamenhof's ideal of uniting people of different cultures.
However, English is taught widely, and Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian are all heard around the island. Muralos' powerhouse education system dictates that citizens learn a foreign language outside of Esperanto and their "ancestral" tongues.

Get in:

It is fairly easy to travel to Muralos. Citizens of countries who are members of the Asian Archipelago are able to travel to Muralos with no visa restrictions. Outside of the region, Muralos also maintains friendly relations with most Western and Asian countries, as well as countries in embassy regions of the Asian Archipelago.

By plane- This is the best bet. There is little reason to travel in any other way. Muralos' "Presidential International Airport" in Urbego (formerly "Capital International Airport," but renamed to avoid confusion with the airport in Beijing) is one of the busiest, with nonstop flights from almost every major airport imaginable. (Most flights with one or more stops make landings in Tokyo or in Vladivostok.)

By boat- Travel by boat is not especially practical unless you are some kind of hardcore enthusiast or are travelling as part of a comprehensive tour. You will most likely also need proficiency in Russian or Japanese.

Ferry services from Wakkanai, Hokkaido in Japan to Havenurbo are fairly organized, though; they run daily. So do services from Vanino in Russia (accessible by rail from Vladivostok) to Okcidenta-Havenurbo.


(Eins Soya, the ferry running from Japan to Muralos)


(Presidential International Airport)

Get around:
Muralos has well maintained roads, even out of the major cities, as well as public transport.

By car:

(A stretch of the Muralosian K1 road)
Rental car services are available at almost all major airports in the country. Driving is not hard: traffic is not often congested, roads and lanes are exceptionally wide, and drivers are rarely aggressive. Cities use the grid system whenever they can, which makes places incredibly easy to find.

- K1 is the major highway that connects Urbego from Urbo, with its western terminus at Okcidenta-Havenurbo. It is one of the largest and grandest highway projects in Muralos, and arguably the world.
(N.B. the three most major highways are all called "K1," with certain prefixes attached to them to signify their direction.)
- SN-K1 is the major north-south highway which connects Havenurbo to Oleo.
- M-K1 connects Okcidenta-Havenurbo to Oleo, and is fairly scenic on the way, being both a coastal and mountainous route.

By rail:
Muralos is astonishingly well-connected by rail, thanks to the efforts of the Russians and Japanese who had previously occupied the islands. One can travel easily from city to city.

Light rail:
Well-developed subway systems (many are double or even triple-deckers) exist to connect most cities, and stops are built specially to be near tourist attractions. In Urbo, a suburb of Urbego, there is also a monorail that connects even to residential neighborhoods. It deserves checking out in itself.


(The Orange Line of the Urbo monorail, in the Nord neighborhood of the city.)
By Hyperloop:
Hyperloop is a fast-growing option in the big cities of Muralos (it first rolled out in Urbego). A distance that would normally take 10 or 20 minutes by car would take merely 30 seconds by Hyperloop. As the method of transportation is still new, though, and some people may not find traveling at such speeds very comfortable, many people are wary of Hyperloop. Still, it is undeniably convenient and while it takes you to other tourist attractions, it serves as a tourist attraction in itself in a way- much like the monorail in Urbo.

See:

(St. Mary's Cathedral, Urbego)
(Yes, there is a notable Gothic-style cathedral in a historically Russian Orthodox city!)

Do:
incomplete

(Whale watching on a tour organized by the Muralosian Maritime Association. Prices for whale watching are 100 steloj for adults and 80 steloj for children, seniors, and members of the Muralosian military.)


(View of Zhdanko Ridge from a helicopter; image courtesy of Zamenhof National Tours. 1000 steloj)

Eat:

(Esperanto restaurant, Urbego)

In Urbego

La Krokodilo - A cheap, but amazingly clean restaurant that specializes in selling Chinese "steamed buns" (baozi) usually filled with ground meat, vegetables, mushrooms, and even truffles. It has been awarded an "Archipelago Star," which are usually given to much more upscale restaurants. Its takeout lines are just as long as the lines to reserve dining seats. The menus and packaging are especially interesting: one could read them over and over and still find things they've missed. But most importantly, the steamed buns are too savory and delicious to describe. Prices range from 12-30 steloj.

Esperanto - A casual, but pricey diner with cuisine from various nationalities, as its name may suggest. Some goods to try are the shabu-shabu with curry-flavored broth, as well as the "breakfast ramen" – ham and American cheese melted in the traditional Japanese noodles. Prices range from 40-80 steloj.

One court in the Zemlinsky National Wall-Sports Center, configured here for squash.

[Grey County]

Grey County's Walball team has arrived at the event. They will be training and anyone who wants an exhibiton match they have asked to contact them

[Alfonzo]

Posting on behalf of Croblade

[Muralos]

Grey County's Walball team has arrived at the event. They will be training and anyone who wants an exhibiton match they have asked to contact them

Muralos' Ministry of Sport sends an invitation out to the two players on Grey County's wallball team, Joe Schmo and Tom Schmomm. The Ministry would like to set up an exhibition match between Schmo/Schomm and a Muralosian doubles team, Lerta Donaldson/Georgo Zhong. The exhibition match will take place at the Zemlinsky National Wall-Sports Center, March 7th at 5:00 p.m. Muralosian Standard Time.

Muralos' Ministry of Sport would also like to set up an exhibition match between the Muralosian doubles team of Walter Granda/Gaia Chen and Hebitaka's Bris Tenker/Giresh Ramendu. Neither team is competing in the IWBC, but they still represent the best of each nation's wallball talent. This match will also take place at the Zemlinsky National Wall-Sports Center, March 8th at 5:00 p.m. Muralosian Standard Time.

These matches will be added to the main IWBC schedule, and scores will be published for them as well.

(Another important OOC note: We will not RP for these matches, as I will be scorinating the matches myself, and I don't think I will be able to find a third-party scorinator in time to review RPs. If we were to RP, I would not be able to impartially grade my own RP for scorination.)

[Grey County]

Grey County's Walball team has arrived at the event. They will be training and anyone who wants an exhibiton match they have asked to contact them

Muralos' Ministry of Sport sends an invitation out to the two players on Grey County's wallball team, Joe Schmo and Tom Schmomm. The Ministry would like to set up an exhibition match between Schmo/Schomm and a Muralosian doubles team, Lerta Donaldson/Georgo Zhong. The exhibition match will take place at the Zemlinsky National Wall-Sports Center, March 7th at 5:00 p.m. Muralosian Standard Time.

Muralos' Ministry of Sport would also like to set up an exhibition match between the Muralosian doubles team of Walter Granda/Gaia Chen and Hebitaka's Bris Tenker/Giresh Ramendu. Neither team is competing in the IWBC, but they still represent the best of each nation's wallball talent. This match will also take place at the Zemlinsky National Wall-Sports Center, March 8th at 5:00 p.m. Muralosian Standard Time.

These matches will be added to the main IWBC schedule, and scores will be published for them as well.

(Another important OOC note: We will not RP for these matches, as I will be scorinating the matches myself, and I don't think I will be able to find a third-party scorinator in time to review RPs. If we were to RP, I would not be able to impartially grade my own RP for scorination.)

Agreed, I will rp them but i understand the scorination factor wont come into play. The team is excited for the exhibition

[Muralos]

The results for the first exhibition game are in! Grey County's Joe Schmo and Tom Schomm have bested Muralos' Lerta Donaldson and Georgo Zhong, winning 3 games to Donaldson/Zhong's 1.

Lerta Donaldson/Georgo Zhong (MUR)        7   3  11   7
Joe Schmo/Tom Schomm (GRC)               11  11   6  11

Stay tuned for the second exhibition match between Muralos' Walter Granda/Gaia Chen and Hebitaka's Bris Tenker/Giresh Ramendu, which will take place tomorrow, March 8th.

[Muralos]

Posting on behalf of Croblade

Hey, I don't think you meant to post this here! This is not a sign-up thread, but an everything thread for a tournament that's soon to be held.

[Muralos]

The results of the second exhibition match are in! Hebitaka's Bris Tenker/Giresh Ramendu defeated Muralos' Gaia Chen/Walter Granda in 5 games, winning 3 and losing 2.

Gaia Chen/Walter Granda (MUR)          11  11   8  11  12
Bris Tenker/Giresh Ramendu (HTK)        9  13  11   7  14

An important hosting update (OOC): the cutoff time for matchday 1 (i.e. matches 1-4) will be moved from March 9th 23:00 EST to March 10th some time in the morning EST (edit: 11:00 a.m. EST). This is to allow for the Muralosian teams' matches to be scorinated by a third-party scorinator Graintfjall, who kindly offered to do so!

Let the RP-ing begin!

[Muralos]

Important OOC note: I will be grading my own RP after all, but my matches will still be scorinated by a third party (Græntfjall/Graintfjall). This is actually the norm for NS Sports tournaments, unless you ask the scorinator to do otherwise! I didn't want to trouble Græntfjall with grading RPs when I didn't ask them to do so in the first place.

The Omniscient
A blog that recounts Muralosian sporting journeys, compiled by the Muralosian Ministry of Sports
March 9, 2021

(OOC: The Omniscient is the moniker for any loose RP of how Muralos is doing in sport.)

Defeat. Malvenko. That is a word that rings in the ears of Muralosian sports fans of late. The national soccer team, while still the pride of the nation, had just bowed out of the qualifiers for the 87th World Cup, placing sixth in their group of 10 teams. And now, in wallball, there has been defeat, with two Muralosian teams losing in their respective exhibition games ahead of the International Playground Wallball Championship (abbreviated IWBC, because the Muralosian Ministry of Sports did not like "IPWC" for some reason).

Perhaps that is what one gets when athletes are sent to compete in a high-level tournament for a sport they don't play professionally. It does help, though, when wallball is tangentially related to their primary sport. Tennis players Gaia Chen and Walter Granda who do their fair share of returning balls, sending them to tricky spots, and getting to tricky spots themselves; they fell to Hebitaka's Bris Tenker and Giresh Ramendu 3-2, and not without some extremely close games (11-9, 13-11, 8-11, 11-7, and 12-14). Lerta Donaldson and Georgo Zhong did not fare as well. We know they are a marvelous duo on the soccer field, but at the Zemlinsky National Wall-Sports Stadium on Sunday, they struggled to return low-flying hits from Grey County's Joe Schmo and Tom Schomm, leading to a particularly tough 3-1 loss, including one game lost 3-11.

[Note: On the playground, kids call those low-flying hits "skimmers"- borrowed terminology from English.]

Still, wallball is the main sporting entertainment that Muralosians can get from national athletes right now... even when the concept of an international wallball championship makes Muralosians a bit self-conscious. Well, this one, anyway. I feel as if there are mixed emotions in the rest of the world about the sport of wallball: something between "yes, this sport was my jam when I was 10 years old!" and 'there's no way I can take this sport seriously." The tournament's popularity seems to reveal the latter, too, with only 8 nations represented.

At the end of the day, though, I don't want to complain at length about the IWBC. It is shaping up to be a solid tournament, niche as it is. While wallball isn't as popular worldwide, Muralosians themselves remember the sport fondly as a treasured playground game (and an easy way to get some exercise). Muralosian athletes have played wallball friendlies before, too, against other players from Asian Archipelago. The IWBC was established in part to highlight the same athleticism, strategy, and excitement that marked those friendlies of old, and I think it has succeeded at that, if at the expense of Muralosian athletes losing. Even that has a silver lining; the elementary schoolers who were at the Donaldson/Zhong vs. Schmo/Schomm match saw some exemplary sportsmanship from their country's athletes, even after frustrating defeats.

I'm expecting Donaldson and Zhong to have worked on their weaknesses ahead of their match today against Kaspar Axelson and Victoria Losnedahl of the Crystalline Caverns, and I have high hopes for Sofia Tremojosa and Kannapian Open junior champion Georgo Zhong when they face Kecheng Liu and Mai Chen of North China. Whatever the outcome, it looks like Muralosians will see good wallball played in the Zemlinsky National Wall-Sports Center, whether they sit courtside or on the couch watching an RTM-1 broadcast.

[Grey County]

Grey County's team started off there first ever wall ball campaign against Muralos and a resounding win was what happened. Joe Schmo and his partner looked ready to do some damage and if this is a sign of things to come Grey County might have a shot. Grey County has earned respect and a bigger tunrout then first thought is expected for the TV on the Sports Network. Joe Schmos dad the coach of the team had this to say after the match "Grey County has just ventured out into international sports recently but our Arena Football team and our U20 Hockey team and Now hopefully our playground wallball tournament team have started off extremely well. I hope we can have a devcent tournament and Gold could be on the way.


OOC Question: Is The final a true double elim finals or a 1 game final?

[Muralos]

Cut-off! Apologies for the late one. [Fun song should go here.]

(OOC: Grey County, the final will be just one round; it is not a true double-elim final.)

Shi Zhang/Dai Dong (NCR)                   8  11  11   8
Steinarr Hansen/Jon Beck (CCN)            11  13   5  11

Kecheng Liu/Mai Chen (NCR)                  9  11  11  11
Sofia Tremojosa/Georgo Chu (MUR)           11   8   5   5


Jessica Axerman/Natsume Byodo (HTK)       15   9   7
Joe Schmo/Tom Schomm (GRC)                17  11  11

Lerta Donaldson/Georgo Zhong (MUR)         11   7   9  11   7
Kaspar Axelson/Victoria Losnedahl (CCN)     8  11  11   9  11

Check the OP and Challonge bracket for upcoming matches!

[Grey County]

Grey County’s team started off the campaign with a straight sets victory to ensure they move Ali by the winners bracket. The team has looked on fire so far and their coach had this to say lost match. “To say that they have been excellent is an Understatement, they were excellent in the exhibition and phenomenal in round 1. They are on fire and gold is definitely not off the table and they know that”. Grey County’s media has surprisingly covered this tournament in-depth showing every match. They National media gives them a 20% chance so far of winning

[Muralos]

Cut-off for MD2!

[Muralos]

MD2 results are out!
(No third-party scorinator this time; however, I have been conservative in grading my own RP.)

Shi Zhang/Dai Dong (NCR)                   7  11  11  11
Sofia Tremojosa/Georgo Chu (MUR)          11   8   9   6



Jessica Axerman/Natsume Byodo (HTK)        7   6   8
Lerta Donaldson/Georgo Zhong (MUR)        11  11  11



Steinarr Hansen/Jon Beck (CCN)            14  11   8   7  11
Kecheng Liu/Mai Chen (NCR)                12   8  11  11   3



Joe Schmo/Tom Schomm (GRC)                11  11  11
Kaspar Axelson/Victoria Losnedahl          4   4   8

[Grey County]

Grey County has started this tournament extremely well and is now after another straight-sets victory a win away from making it to the champuinship game. They will gave an offday today before getting back in the coury Saturday in the A semifinals. After the gane the coach was extremelu happy "We coudnt be more happy to have started off this well and we arent done yet, were gonna practice tommorow before back to competition saturday, GO GREY COUNTY"

[Muralos]

Cut-off for MD3!

Results below:

Kecheng Liu/Mai Chen (NCR)               12  10  11  12
Lerta Donaldson/Georgo Zhong (MUR)       10  12   6  10



Kaspar Axelson/Victoria Losnedahl        11  10  11   8   9
Shi Zhang/Dai Dong (NCR)                  4  12   8  11  11

[Muralos]

Cut-off for MD4 and results!

Steinarr Hansen/Jon Beck (CCN)        9   8  11   6
Joe Schmo/Tom Schomm (GRC)           11  11   6  11



Kecheng Liu/Mai Chen (NCR)            7   8  12  11   5
Shi Zhang/Dai Dong (NCR)             11  11  10   7  11

[Muralos]

Cut-off for MD5 and results! Apologies for the almost day-late cutoff. Because of this, the Grand Final will be delayed to March 20th, with the cut-off time to be at 2 a.m. EST on March 21st.

Steinarr Hansen/Jon Beck (CCN)       13   8  11  11
Shi Zhang/Dai Dong (NCR)             11  11   4   7

Stay tuned for the Grand Final between Grey County's Joe Schmo/Tom Schomm and Crystalline Caverns' Steinarr Hansen/Jon Beck!

[Grey County]

Grey County earned another straight sets victory and has advnnced to the Grand FInal.

The coach had this to say post match "We plan on winning every game we play and int he grand final we will cap off the tournament with Grey Countys FIrst ever Championship in major international sport.

[Muralos]

Steinarr Hansen/Jon Beck (CCN)        7   2  10
Joe Schmo/Tom Schmom (GRC)           11  11  12

Congratulations to Grey County's Joe Schmo and Tom Schmom on winning the 1st International Playground Wallball Championshp! Commiserations to those who didn't make it as far, and thank you all for participating in this edition of the tournament.[/pre]