Day 3 of our trip saw the competition kick off, although we had the bye straight up, meaning we don’t play until tomorrow. Today was also probably our longest day at the stadium, so having the bye might have been a stroke of luck after all.

After having most of the morning to ourselves, bar a quick team meeting, the official activities kicked off in the early afternoon with a light training. Plenty of shooting games were played, mainly guys vs girls, and the honours were split pretty much down the middle.

Following training was the opening ceremony, with delegations from the city and the IKF, welcoming us to the region and officially opening the tournament. The highlight of the ceremony was a performance by a local K-pop artist, who performed a couple of his songs before the official proceedings concluded.

The Kiwi’s played Japan immediately following the opening ceremony, and being good neighbours, we stayed and supported them. Unfortunately, they went down in the tightest match of the day, but will still have plenty of chances this tournament.

It was then back to the hotel before finding dinner. While some of the team headed to an Italian joint again (who apparently ran out of pizza), I decided to broaden my cultural horizons, and had a Turkish kebab instead. I’m sure I’ll work my way to Japanese cuisine at some point, just not quite sure when.

Tomorrow is our first game, and it’s a late one, meaning as excited as we will all be, it should be a reasonably relaxed day for the most part. Until then, sayonara.