3/17/2010        2010 Malta Junior & Cadet Open - ITTF Junior Circuit

Adem Hmam, 15 years old and Michael Tauber, one year older, proved to be the pick of the players on duty on the first day of play at the Malta Junior Open in Cottonera on Wednesday 17th March 2010.

Both remained unbeaten to guide their respective teams, Tunisia and Israel, to first place in the group stage matches of the Boys’ Team event.

The top two seeded teams in the event, Tunisia and Israel surrendered only one individual game in the day.

Comfortable Wins
Supported by Enzo Lambruzo and Oussama Chaieb, Adem Hmam dominated matters as Cyprus `B’ represented by Anotonis and Marcos Kypridemos were beaten by three matches to nil before the same punishment was handed out to the Malta `B’ team of Chris Attard and James Dawson.

However, against Spain life was more testing.

Alejandro Calvo defeated Enzo Lambruzo but wins for Adem Hmam over Alejandro Calvo and Moises Alvarez plus a doubles success in harness with Oussama Chaieb, ensured victory.

Spain recorded three-nil wins against Cyprus `B’ and Malta `B’.

Similar Scenario
It was a similar scenario for Israel.

Michael Tauber in partnership with Elad Kuperberg defeated the Cyprus `A’ team of Andreas Efstathiou and Nikolas Panagiotou by three matches to nil before finding Sweden more testing opposition.

Good Start for Swedes
Alexander Franzen gave Sweden a splendid start by overcoming Elad Kuperberg but that was the sum total of the Nordic country’s success. Michael Tauber defeated both Carl Johan Ahlander and Alexander Franzen, whilst teaming with Elad Kupperberg to secure the doubles.

Successful Conclusion
A tough hurdle negotiated, Israel recorded a three-nil win against Daniel Bajada and Andrew Gambina of Malta `A’ to conclude the day successfully.

Sweden overcame both Cyprus `A’ and Malta `A’ to secure second place and progress to the semi-finals alongside Tunisia, Spain and Israel.

At the semi-final stage Tunisia meets Sweden whilst Isreal confronts Spain.

Cadet Boys’ Team Event
Meanwhile, in the Cadet Boys’ Team event, Singapore (Clarence Chew, Jit kiat Tay), Spain (Miguel Angel Vilchez, Jose Luis Maestre) and Sweden `A’ (Marcus Olofsson, Benny Feng) finished as group winners.

Isreal (Itmar Abramov, Mishel LKevinski), Sweden `B’ (Alfred Linblad, Anders Eriksson) and Norway (Eskild Jorgensen, Erik Doval) finished as the respective second placed team.

Quarter-Finals
In the quarter-finals Sweden `B’ plays Norway with the winners confronting Singapore whilst in the lower half of the draw Sweden `A’ meets Israel; the winners play Spain.