 |
 |
Ireland fielded a 4 player team in the Moldova Cup which was held in Iasi (pronounced Yash), Romania from Thursday 17th to Sunday 20, February 2011. Twenty six teams took part and we finished 7th overall. Four of the teams were from outside Romania (Ireland, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Moldova), and the rest were Romanian. It proved more difficult than expected to get our best players and in the end a team went from Adare club in County Limerick. The time control was 61 minutes on each clock, and seven rounds were played in total.
It was a requirement that at least one of the players had to be a girl on board 4. Ireland's Diana Mirza was the highest scoring girl! Moldova swept the tournament losing only 2 games to other players one of them being Diana.
The tournament invitation came via Gabriel Mirza last Autumn and was passed on to Junior Officer, Darko Polimac. It was agreed that Gabriel would take charge of the project, and find a team willing to travel. The Romanian organisers had even moved the event one week because it clashed with Bunratty. Four parents traveled together with the players, Liam Murphy, Jeffrey Alfred, Jack Fitzgerald, and Diana Mirza.
There were additional activities laid on to keep the visiting teams entertained. A 5-a-side soccer match, a blitz tournament, party, museum visit, monastery visit, unscheduled snowball and more. The blitz was held in a shopping centre in the afternoon, and Liam Murphy had the honour of taking 4th place. Parents and players took part in the soccer league and Ireland were winners in the first tournament. The rules were then modified and we came second in the next league!
Overall we were very well treated, having free transport from Bucharest to Iasi, free meals and free accommodation. Three people with good English had been hired to look after the visiting teams. A light layer of snow remained on the ground for the week we stayed but it was warm enough to walk around with just a shirt inside a coat. Iasi has many fine historical buildings but we didn't get to see them all. We noticed that the cost of living (especially with services) was much less than Ireland with at least one visitor taking the opportunity to make a low cost dental visit. Imported goods were not any cheaper than Ireland. We hope to make a return visit next year!