 |
| Now, this year too, 32 male and female professionals were chosen by title holders and top prize ranking and so on. The pair who will win the 1st and 2nd round on the 1st day will go to the next round. The pair who loses these games will drop out. 8 pairs which win once and lose once, same as last year, will go to the quarterfinals using 9X9 Go boards. This `process of the tournament’ was announced by Ms. Takanishi and the lottery was about to begin. |
| The pair who won last year keeps the same pairing as the regulation so the lottery was for 30 players. 2 boxes with ball with A to O letters inside were prepared and males and females were divided and picked balls from each box. First, instead of the male professionals who were absent, guests came up on the stage and picked balls. When half of the male professionals’ draw was finished, it was the female professionals’ turn. |
| The first female professional who drew the lottery was Chinen Women’s Honinbo Women’s Kisei followed by Kazuko Konishi 8dan and Tomoko Ogawa 6dan and when they picked the balls which were not picked by the male professionals, the audience who held its breath watching let out a sigh. |
| The one who decided the first pairing was Kumiko Yashiro 5dan, in the best condition, trying to get the title, Women’s Honinbo. Her partner was Norimoto Yoda Gosei. Then, when Akino Izawa 3dan decided the pairing with Naoki Hane Kisei, one of the audiences called out, `That’s good.’ and when Ayumi Suzuki 3dan decided her pair, Cho U Meijin Oza, there was a stir among the audience. |
| Again, back to male professionals’ turn and Yoshio Ishida 9dan went up on the stage. Tomoko Ogawa 6dan who was chosen by Ishida 9dan seemed as if she was shocked (?) and covered her face with her hands and we could not tell if she was screaming or laughing. On the other hand, Ishida 9dan glanced at the ball and said `Oh?’. Promptly, Ms. Takanishi said ` What do you mean by `Oh?’ and the place was surrounded with laughter. |
| Then, all the pairs of the Ricoh Cup Professional Pair Go Championship 2006 were decided. |
|
|
