MahjongTime.com could not be happier, having sponsored the exciting and highly competitive Second International Mahjong Tournament of Paris. Held the second-week of April, the tournament, which was organized by Laurent Mahé of the Parisian mahjong club Magic Mahjong Social Pung and also by la French Mahjong Federation, attracted 84 players. Reine Blanche was the setting for France’s most ambitious and hard-fought mahjong tournament, which included highly skilled players from Hungary, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands and France.
Marianne Croeze (Nickname: Blom1234 on MahjongTime.com), from the Netherlands, was the victor in the tournament, notching her first ever European Mahjong Association title. Ms Croeze said, “I'm very happy to be the winner of the French tournament and also the best player from Mahjong Time at this tournament. I play live tournaments and I think that is good practice. Especially the tournaments in China.”
(Marianne Croeze in the center, on the left Mathieu Ugo, Martin Mauthner on the right)
Ms. Croeze, who captured 13 of a possible 16 points to take the grand prize, also observed, “I think playing several times a week on Mahjong Time makes me play better because there I play with very good players all over the world. There are good players from the Netherlands on Mahjong Time like Inru, Dees & A3geffen. I play with them in our club and that also makes me better.” Then she noted, “I look forward to playing in the world championship in November 2007 in Chengdu, China.” With her win, she secured 14th place in the European rankings.
Second-place winner Martin Mauthner, who finished first in the Hungarian Open Tournament last year, plays for the Baden 1 team, which currently holds first-place amongst all teams in the European rankings. Mauthner accumulated 12 points in the tournament. His teammates are Otto Myslivec and Gabriele Sallmutter. Sallmutter took 10th place in this contest, which vaulted her into first-place in the European arena. Baden 1, which hails from Austria, earned tournament title of Best Team.
Thirteen year-old whiz kid Mathieu Ugo, last year’s Le Vice-French Champion, finished third and became the new French Champion for 2007. Last year’s French Champion, Jean-Pascal Auberval, finished 71st in this year’s International Mahjong Tournament of Paris and is presently ranked 46th in Europe.
(Slava Novozhenya on the left and Marianne Croeze on the right)
MahjongTime.com also awarded the title Best Mahjong Time Player to tournament winner Croeze and to Van Der Blom (Nickname: Blom1234 on MahjongTime.com). Presenting awards for MahjongTime.com was Slava Novozhenya , Chief Operating Officer , who took a moment to thank everyone for their high level of play, enthusiasm and good sportsmanship. Later, Slava observed that the tournament was “well organized and great fun.” He went onto say, “Laurent Mahé of Magic Mahjong Social Pung has really done fine work bringing everything together for this competition.” For full results of this exciting tournament go to magicmahjong.free.fr.
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