12/12/2012        Volkswagen 2012 World Junior Table Tennis Championships

A very creditable seventh place in the Girls’ Team event was the end result for the United States of America at the Volkswagen World Junior Championships in the Indian city of Hyderabad on Wednesday 12th December 2012.

They accounted for Croatia by three matches to one to conclude their itinerary.

Furthermore, they competed without the services of Ariel Hsing and they possessed to youngest player in the whole tournament in their line.

Crystal Wang is only 10 years old! She was born on Sunday 23rd February 2002 and thus is eligible to compete in the next eight editions of the tournament!

She will still be young enough in 2020!

Not Overawed
Certainly the young lady from Maryland, who played in the fixtures against Korea and Romania, was not overawed by the experience or the adventure of travelling to the other side of the world.

In the concluding fixture against Croatia, once again the mainstay of American success was 16 year old Lily Zhang.

She beat both Ida Jazbec (11-9, 11-2, 11-6) and Ivana Tubikanec (11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6) in a three matches to two victory.

Further Results
The one further success for the United States came from Prachi Jha, she overcame Mateja Jeger in the third match of the contest (11-9, 11-6, 11-9) after, in the second match of the fixture, Ivana Tubikanec had recorded the one success for Croatia.

She overcame Isabel Chiu, who like Prachi Jha is only 15 years old (10-12, 11-5, 11-4, 11-3).

Possibly Higher
Undoubtedly seventh place was a creditable finish but it could have been higher; the United States suffered defeat at the quarter-final stage against Germany in a full distance five games encounter.

It was a contest in which Lily Zhang remained unbeaten; the American emerging as one of the tournaments leading young ladies. Throughout she lost just one match; that being in the contest against Korea for fifth to eighth places when beaten by Lee Dasom.

Certainly Lily Yip, the coach on duty for the United States could be well pleased with the efforts of her team.

Sixth Place for Romania
Seventh place for the United States in the Girls’ Team event, for Romania it was sixth place following victory over Korea.

Backbone of the win was Roxana Istrate who beat both Lee Dasom (9-11, 11-4, 7-11, 12-10, 11-7) and in the crucial concluding duel, Jung Yumi (11-6, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8).

The one remaining win for Romania came from Bernadette Szocs who overcame Kim Byeolnim in the third match of the fixture (11-8, 11-4, 10-12, 11-5); for Korea, Jung Yumi beat Bernadett Balint (11-6, 11-4, 11-7) whilst Lee Dasom also defeated the luckless Balint (11-8, 5-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-3).

Video Interview
Download video interviews with Lily Yip and Crystal Wang