At these words, He Zhichen immediately took out his tablet and opened a document.
"Go ahead."
"First, the number of participants."
Wan Qi said,
"Sixteen years ago, when Gan Hua competed in that Ke'er Cup, there were a total of 104 contestants. Thirty-two advanced to the second stage, and eight advanced to the finals."
"But sixteen years have passed. Ever since the international competition format changed, cello competitions have developed faster and faster, with increasingly larger audiences. And this year... haha!"
At this point, the old man even gave a rather darkly humorous laugh.
"The number of participants has exceeded five hundred."
"Five hundred?!"
He Zhichen cried out.
"That's five times as many."
Even Gan Yan Yu sucked in a sharp breath, her expression turning grave.
What did more than five hundred of the world's top cellists mean?
To put it dramatically,
excluding the contestants who got in through connections,
what they would be facing
was 500 Bai Xis, 500 Nana Lis, and 500 Bai Junzes.
That was terrifying.
However, Lin Tian remained fairly calm about it.
No matter how many people there were, most were just there to fill out the field. The ones who truly deserved attention were usually only the few dozen at the top of the pyramid.
"Out of those 500 contestants, how many will remain by the second and third stages?" Lin Tian asked.
After all, they would be starting directly from the second stage. The number of contestants in that stage mattered more.
"If the information is accurate, there will be sixty-four contestants in the second stage, and fourteen will advance to the finals."
Looking at it that way,
Groups A and B would each have thirty-two people, with the top seven from each group advancing to the finals.
Still, as before,
judging solely