Team Japan: wins iba-UIBC-CUP «Bakers» in Munich

Munich / DE. (ghm) It’s gold for Noritoshi Shibuya and Hirokazu Asai from Japan. These two bakers are the winners of the iba-UIBC-CUP «Bakers». This international competition, where the world’s best in this field compete against each other, takes place in Munich every three years at iba, the world’s leading trade fair for bakery, confectionery and snacks. In total, teams of bakers from twelve countries took part in the iba-UIBC-CUP. The victors were honoured during a ceremony on Monday the 14th of September at the trade fair.

At the German Bakers Academy in Weinheim, they had trained for an entire week and undergone intense preparation for the competition. Now their efforts were rewarded, and the sheer delight of these two Japanese bakers for having won was written on their faces. At the iba Forum in Hall B3, amid resounding applause from a large audience, Noritoshi Shibuya and Hirokazu Asai received their gold medals for the iba-UIBC-CUP «Bakers». The pair won over the judges with their outstanding competition entries, and a fan club of around 30 members had even travelled with them all the way from Japan. The awards were presented by Peter Becker, the President of the German Bakers’ Confederation, and Wolfgang Schäfer, Vice President of the German Bakers’ Confederation.

Over three days, from the 12th to the 14th of September 2015, the competitors baked for the title in four bakeries in Hall B3. Representatives from four of the countries competed against each other each day in teams of two. This included teams from Peru, France, the Netherlands, USA, China, Hungary, Spain, Croatia, Russia, Denmark, Japan, and Germany. Overview of all participants:

Japan: Noritoshi Shibuya, Hirokazu Asai
The Netherlands: Tim Boers, Kris Huysman
France: Baptiste Guery, Matthieu Schuller
Hungary: Roland Tukacs, Zoltan Tako
USA: Katie Vanek, Ashley Nichols
Spain: Josep Pascual Aguilera, José Roldán Triviño
Croatia: Damir Kregar, Renata Kruhan
Russia: Anna Gribanova, Elena Ananina
Denmark: Eva Jorgensen, Dan Christensen
Peru: Roger Aponte Villanueva, Héctor Urrunaga Cosmopolis
China: Tang Jianbo, Liao Jinzhong
Germany: Felix Remmele, Marc Mundri

The theme of this year’s competition was «circus», according to which the competitors had to produce bread, party pastries, biscuits, Danish pastries, as well as a baked show piece.

In the end, it was Noritoshi Shibuya and Hirokazu Asai who won with their baked masterpieces. They also won the special category of «Best Biscuit». In second place came Tim Boers and Kris Huysman from the Netherlands, who also won the category of «Best Danish». Third place went to Baptiste Guery and Matthieu Schuller from France, also awarded the prize for the «Best Bread» category. The prize for the best show piece of the competition was awarded to Roland Tukacs and Zoltan Tako from Hungary, who came in fourth place with the rest of the competitors.