Results of the 2009 WFDF Asia Oceania Ultimate Club Championships and Manila Spirits Tournament

The governing body of Ultimate Frisbee in the Philippines, the Philippine Ultimate Association, or the PUA, hosted its annual Manila Spirits

tournament last November 6 to 8 on the fields of Alabang Country Club. Manila Spirits 2009 was much larger than past years as the PUA

accepted the opportunity to host the 2009 World Flying Disc Federation Asia-Oceania Ultimate Club Championships (2009 WFDF

AOUCC for short), to run concurrently with Manila Spirits

The tournament consisted of three divisions. The AOUCC Open division, the AOUCC Women's division, and the AOUCC Mixed/Manila

Spirits division.

The AOUCC Open division, comprising of all men's teams, and the AOUCC Women's division were both run on November 6. The Open

division consisted of nine teams in total, with the Philippines, Japan, Australia and China being represented. After a long, hard day of play,

the gold medal in the Open division was won by Japan's Link, a team made up of businessmen who have continued playing Ultimate since

their college days. It was an amazing feat considering the thin roster Link sent over. Link, seeded second, won the gold medal 11-6 over our

very own Boracay Dragons, who were seeded third. The bronze was won by another incredible Japanese team, the Chukyo University

Flippers, who beat Chinese team CUUP for the medal.

The Women's division was played out between four teams, with China, the Philippines, Thailand and Australia being represented. The gold

medal was won by Pilipinas Bebots, formed by the Team Philippines women. They took the title over D-CUUP, a very strong team made up

of China's best female Ultimate talent. The Boracay Dragonitas took home the bronze medal, beating Thailand in their play-off.

The AOUCC Mixed division was run together with Manila Spirits Mixed on November 7 and 8. Every available slot was filled, with thirty-

two teams from Manila, the provinces, and the Asia Oceanic region submitting strong rosters. Seven hundred players participated, the

largest Manila Spirits ever by far.

Last year's champion Team Philippines was seeded first, last year's runner-up Black Flag was seeded second, and Australian team Sizzle

was seeded third. All thirty-two teams played four games on their first day of play. The teams were then separated into their respective pools

(A, B, C, or D) for the next day, based on their first day results.

The pool A championship was eventually won by Black Flag, a team made up of Ultimate freaks from around the globe. They defeated

Singapore team Shiok 13-4 in the final. Shiok surprised everyone this year with their strong roster and tremendous athletic ability.

Despite being overall tournament champion, Black Flag participated in the Manila Spirits Mixed division, not the WFDF sanctioned

AOUCC Mixed division, meaning AOUCC Mixed participants Shiok won the AOUCC Mixed division gold medal. Team Philippines won

the silver medal and the Boracay Dragons won the bronze.

Local team Sunken Pleasure won pool B. Pool C was won by Dumaguete Extreme. Davao Mulatto won the pool D championship.

Of course, Filipino hospitality shone through the entire weekend. A great time was had by all and many teams have already indicated that

they will be sure to return for Manila Spirits 2010. WFDF president Jonathan Potts came from Australia to oversee proceedings, along with

WFDF director Morooka Fumio of Japan.

AOUCC Open:
1. Link (Japan)
2. Boracay Dragons (Philippines)
3. Chukyo University Flippers (Japan)
4. CUUP (China)
5. Hong Kong
6. IN THE FAAAAAAACE (Australia)
7. Barrack's Obama (Philippines)
8. Roaches (Philippines)
9. Iligan Red Horses (Philippines)

AOUCC Open MVPs:
Gareth Marshall (CUUP)
Jude Lee (Boracay Dragons)

AOUCC Women's:
1. Pilipinas Bebots (Philippines)
2. D-CUUP (China)
3. Boracay Dragonitas (Philippines)
4. Thailand

AOUCC Women’s MVPs:
Rissa Ong (Pilipinas Bebots)
Kristin Franke (D-CUUP)

AOUCC Mixed division:
1. Shiok (Singapore)
2. The Team Philippines (Philippines)
3. Boracay Dragons (Philippines)
4. Freakshow (Singapore)
5. Sizzle (Australia)
6. Hong Kong Junk (Hong Kong)
7. Sunken Pleasure (Philippines)
8. Disc Knights (Singapore)
9. KUNT (Korea)
10. Monster (Philippines)
11. Vudoo (Vietnam)
12. Iligan Red Horses (Philippines)
13. Hong Kong Star Fairies (Hong Kong)

Manila Spirits Mixed:
Group A
1. Black Flag (Various)
2. Shiok (Singapore)
3. The Team Philippines (Philippines)
4. Boracay Dragons (Philippines)
5. Freakshow (Singapore)
6. Sizzle (Australia)
7. Ninja Cowboy Bear (Various) and Hong Kong Junk

Group B
9. Sunken Pleasure (Philippines)
10. Disc Knights (Singapore)
11. KUNT (Korea)
12. Monster (Philippines)
13. Dharma Bums (Various)
14. Vudoo (Vietnam)
15. SoiDawgz (Thailand)
16. Team Triple J (China)

Group C
17. Dumaguete Extreme (Philippines)
18. Cuernos (Philippines)
19. MAD (Philippines)
20. Renegade Province (Various)
21. Cherifer (Philippines) and Circus Weng Weng (Philippines)
23. Iligan Red Horses (Philippines) and Mindanao United (Philippines)

Group D
25. Davao Mulatto (Philippines)
26. Ridiculous George (Philippines)
27. Hong Kong Star Fairies (Hong Kong)
28. Guambats (Guam)
29. Xavier Ultimate (Philippines)
30. SerenDiscity (Sri Lanka)
31. Ultimate Warriors (Philippines)
32. Breakfast Club (Philippines)

Mixed division awards:
Final MVPs: Will Chen (Black Flag) and Serene Ng (Shiok)
Pool B MVPs: Danny Dematera (Sunken Pleasure) and Ally Wilkes (KUNT)
Pool C MVPs: Ronan Batralo (Cuernos) and Jenny Rabosa (Dumaguete Extreme)
Pool D MVPs: Chris Calvert (Ridiculous George) and Glyn Duero (Davao Mulatto)

Mythical 7:
1. Nica Hechanova (Team Philippines)
2. Jeffrey Rodriguez (Team Philippines)
3. Britt Mercadante (Black Flag)
4. Ness Fajardo (Black Flag)
5. Calvin Cheng (Hong Kong Junk)
6. John Damiani (Sizzle)
7. Kierin Janes (Sizzle)

Best Offensive Player: Derek Ramsay (Team Philippines)
Best Defensive Player: Panoy delos Santos (Boracay Dragons)

Friday party:
Best male costume - Fletcher "Poida" Joyce (Sizzle)
Best female costume - Daisy "I love stuffed toys" Cimafranca (Davao Mulatto)

Saturday party:
Best male costume - Jonathan "Undead Hooker" Potts (WFDF)
Female costume - Kat "Corpse Bride" Velayo (Team Philippines)
Group costume - Guambats as Zombie Elvis

Tourney awards:
Party award - Renegade Province
Dusk til Dawn - The 5'1 Tower of Power, Sol Salutillo (BC)
Spirit Award - SerenDiscity
Callahans: Ping Bautista (MAD), Retche Corregidor (Roaches), Tatsuya Suzaki (Chukyo University Flippers), Paul Denyer (Sizzle), Hamish Pope (Sizzle), Greg Ericksen (Team Triple J), Liu Feng Hao aka Howie (Shiok), JC Ty (Cherifer), Jake Anderson (Hong Kong Junk), Karlo Castro (Ridiculous George), Tuan Phan (Hong Kong Star Fairies)

Check out some of the cool Z-Day costumes we saw at the Saturday night party:
http://baicapture.com/gallery/2009/November/ThrillahinManila/

Ogee's pics from the same party:
http://ogong.multiply.com/photos/album/348/Manila_Spirits_09_-_Z_Day_Party#

Ogee's disc pics:
http://ogong.multiply.com/photos/album/347/Asia_Oceanic_Ultimate_Club_Championships_09

Ian's pics:
Album 1 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=137187&id=693306560&l=2a48c38d8d
Album 2 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=137500&id=693306560&l=50de6b49ac
Album 3 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=137504&id=693306560&l=d1fc1d7ead

Marco's pics:
http://blacktieproject.smugmug.com/share/mtAiOIfJBO77U

Dane's pics:
http://danekalbo.multiply.com/photos/album/157/Manila_Spirits_AOUCC_2009_Album_1
http://danekalbo.multiply.com/photos/album/158/Manila_Spirits_AOUCC_2009_Album_2

There are a lot more tourney pics floating around on Facebook.

If you'd like to know more about what happened, please do feel free to email me. After the press release are the results. Standings, party

awards, everything.

We do hope to see you all back in 2010!

Rick Cayzer rickcayzer@gmail.com

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