The World Series of Mahjong is set to begin on September 19th and the event has already had more than three hundred players sign up to participate. The tournament will be held at the Wynn Resort and players are flying in from all over the world including: Taiwan, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Chili, Singapore, Portugal and the United States.

Lisa Lau Lai-fun came in as first runner up in last year’s competition and won 1.17 million Hong Kong dollars for position. Lisa will now be returning for this year’s tournament and her son will also be competing. Hui Chung-Lai won last year’s event and took home a staggering 4 million Hong Kong dollars.

Several personalities have been invited to participate in the event and are from Hong Kong. Antony Chum, Angelina Chan and Ross Lai are well known in the Hong Kong area. Jim Kwong will be representing Canada this year. Kwong won the second annual Mahjong Charity Open at River Rock Casino Resort in Canada and will try his luck at this year’s event.

Japan will be represented in the tournament by Jenn Barr, a professional Mahjong player. She is a member of the Japan Professional Mahjong League and created the ReachMahjong website. Australia will be represented by Donald Wong while Niels Hansen will be playing for Denmark.

Hsu Nai Lin and Pan Hui-Ru will represent Taiwan while Manlee Wan will be flying in from the United Kingdom. With the large list of players along with the professionals participating, this year’s World Series of Mahjong is sure to present a good competition.


- 2008-09-15