University of Aizu team places 14th at the 41th ACM-ICPC Japan Contest

On Friday, June 24, the 41th ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) Japan regional contest (*1) was held. Ten teams from UoA participated and the top three of these teams won prizes. Team 575.cpp, which placed the highest among all UoA teams, qualified for the Asian Regional Contest by placing 14th among 384 teams. The UoA placed 9th among 93 universities. Approximately 30 teams qualified for the Asian Regional Contest, and UoA has now qualified for the contest for 19 years in a row.

Qualifying team 575.cpp was formed by Tadamasa Yamaguchi (4th-year undergraduate) and Takumi Yamashita (3rd-year undergraduate), who were members of the UoA team FinalZukky (*2) that entered the world finals last year, and new member Kazuya Watanabe (1st -year master's student).

Team leader Tadamasa Yamaguchi (4th-year undergraduate) expressed his hopes for the future, stating "I was practicing for the ACM-ICPC World Finals last month, so it was unable to spend much time practicing with my current team. I believe our team will be able to aim for the top if practice more. I would like to try even harder at the Asian regional contest."

Takumi Yamashita (3rd-year undergraduate) looked back at the contest, commenting that "Personally, I don't feel that I contributed enough this time. At the Asian regional contest, I hope that we will be able to compete at 100%."

New member Kazuya Watanabe (1st-year of master's program) expressed his enthusiasm, "I have been challenging on ACM-ICPC Japan regional contest since my second year of undergraduate school, and this year I finally made it through the qualifier. This is my last chance to participate in ACM-ICPC, so I intend to do my best in order to produce a good result."

Additionally, two other UoA teams, mochinocha and OKA, narrowed missed qualifying at 26th and 27th place respectively.

Coach and Associate Professor Yutaka Watanabe (*3), praised the teams' efforts and growth, stating "Each of the UoA teams, including 575.cpp, which made it through the qualifier, fought bravely, even as more and more teams participate each year. Even the teams that did not qualify for the next round placed higher than even many of the invited teams. In particular, team OKA was comprised entirely of second-year undergrads who have only been programming for one year. This made me aware of just how well the students at the UoA as a whole are developing.

During competition (left), 575.cpp (right)

mochinocha (left), OKA (right)

*1 The ACM-ICPC World Finals :An international programming contest for university students held by the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) since 1976, the ICPC is a contest in which teams of three students try to answer as many problems in as short a time as possible. As the only world-level programming contest for university students, the universities and teams that compete are highly respected around the world.

*2 FInalZukky's news archivet: UoA team participates in ACM-ICPC International Collegiate Programming Contest 2016 World Finals

*3 Associate Professor Yutaka Watanobe and the Competitive Programming Club