Em will start her qualifying matches tomorrow, QR1 and QR2 both being scheduled. I'm slightly surprised Emily is here when there were some very light field 25k events in Europe - she would probably have got into the main draw in Tbilisi, which is a lovely city too. Here at Gifu, she will have to beat higher ranked players in QR2 to get 3 points, and unfortunately is in the same quadrant as the q1 seed, so for her to reach the main draw - and gain 5 pts - will be very tough.
QR1: Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) 602 vs Kotomi TAKAHATA (JPN) 922 (CH:562 Oct 10)
Emily played Gifu last year, losing in Q2, before playing a 25k in Thailand and a 25k and a 60k in China, so not really a surprise that she's made the trip again. Pity about the weaker draw in Europe though.
When's the main draw out for this one. Really interesting with all 3-8 ranked women involved and 2 of them seeded. Doesn't look the strongest field overall, so hopefully they avoid each other and we can get some latter stage all Brit clashes where there will be significant points on the line. Just a shame the matches will start around 2/3am .