9/20/2007        2007 ITTF WJC Congo Brazzaville Junior Open

The top four seeds in the Boys’ Team event at the Congo Brazzaville Junior Open, all came through their first stage matches with perfect records on Thursday 21st September, the first day of play in the last international junior open tournament on the ITTF World Junior Circuit in 2007.

It was success for Croatia’s Borna Kovac and Australia’s Trent Carter, Egypt’s Amar Assar and Mohammed Tarek El-Sobky, Congo Brazzaville’s Lawal Abiodun, Junior Tamba and Joe Ndzoli plus Sweden’s Simon Linderoth and Carl Akerlind.

Number One Seeds Impressive
Top seeds Borna Kovac and Trent Carter recorded three-nil victories over the Ivory Coast duo of Stephane Tiede Kanehen and Ange Oba Don before dealing out the same punishment to the South African team of Cody Meyer, Kurt Lingeveldt and Siyabulelwa Mazwi.

The contest against the South Africans was a match in which Cody Meyer and Kurt Lingeveldt played in the singles with Siyabulelwa Mazwi joining the latter for the doubles contest.

No Prisoners
Similarly Omar Assar and Mohammed Tarek El-Sobky took no prisoners.

They overcame Liberia in their opening match with singles wins being recorded against Holder Karbowhen and Mohamed Butler plus a doubles success against Weh Yau and Weh Lasawah.

A good start to their programme of matches they concluded their schedule for the day with victory over Congo Brazzaville `B’. Grace Babekido and Ben Kiboula Betu were the players to suffer at the hands of the Egyptian duo.

Hosts Success
Defeat for the hosts but there was success for the third seeds from Congo Brazzaville.

The trio of Lawal Abiodun, Junior Tamba and Joe Ndzoli combined to beat the South Africa `A’ pairing of Itumeleng Molahloe and Keegan Linheveldt, the Congo Democratic duo of Christ Dinganga and Guillit Mayamu plus the Benin pairing of Damien Fagla and Nassif Ligali.

Sweden
Meanwhile, not to be outdone by the top three seeded team, Sweden showed their hand.

Seeded four, Carl Akerlind and Simon Linderoth beat Cong Brazzaville’s Christ Minangando and Prince Bonda Wassa before accounting for the latter’s colleagues Gloire Cassa and Isaas Sharma Shanga.

Second Stage Qualifiers
In tradition with all tournaments on the ITTF World Junior Circuit, the top two teams from each group progress to the second stage.

The second placed teams to progress were: South Africa (Cody Meyer, Kurt Lingeveldt, Siyabulelwa Mazwi), Congo Brazzaville `B’ (Grace Babekido, Ben Kiboula Betu), Benin (Damien Fagla, Nassif Ligali), Congo Democratic `B’ (Gloire Cassa, Isaac Sharma Shanga).