Tournaments

Sun International 2016 World Junior Table Tennis Championships

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World Junior Championships

Rares Sipos and Horacio Cifuentes dent Japanese aspirations, only Tomokazu Harimoto remains from gold medal team

06 Dec 2016

Winner of the Cadet Boys’ Singles title at the 2014 European Youth Championships in the Italian town of Riva del Garda; on the late morning of Tuesday 6th December, Romania’s Rares Sipos was the player to cause the biggest upset in the second round of the Boys’ Singles event at the Sun International 2016 World Junior Championships in Cape Town, South Africa.

In a tense contest, decided by the very narrowest of margins in the deciding game, the no.25 seed, Rares Sipos beat Japan’s Yuto Kizukuri by the very narrowest of margins (8-11, 11-6, 9-11, 16-14, 13-11, 7-11, 11-9).

Rares Sipos who beat Yuto Kizukuri (Photo: Rémy Gros)

by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

The biggest upset of the round, Latin American supporters might think differently; at the same time, Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes was performing heroics and was causing Japan more pain.

Occupying the no.18 seeded position in the competition; he accounted for Tonin Ryuzaki, the no.5 seed (11-3, 10-12, 11-8, 14-16, 11-5, 11-5).

Two major upsets and there were four more of note.

Chinese Taipei’s Huang Chien-Tu was next on the list; the no.28 seed, he accounted for China’s Yu Heyi, the no.8 seed (11-9, 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 11-9). Defeat for China but contrary to seeding, there was success. Yang Shuo, the no.23 seed, overcame Romania’s Cristian Pletea, the no.13 seed (11-8, 19-17, 11-13, 17-15, 6-11, 11-3).

Success against expectations for Yang Shuo, it was the same for Korea’s Cho Daeseong, the no.26 seed and a young man of note, he is only 14 years old. Impressively he accounted for Aliaksandr Khanin of Belarus (11-13, 11-8, 13-11, 11-6, 12-10).

Similarly, Irvin Bertand raised the eyebrows; he flew the flag for France. The no.27 seed, in a most emphatic manner, he ousted Austria’s Andreas Levenko in four straight games (13-11, 15-13, 11-7, 11-3).

Surprises, most notably only one member of the Japanese outfit that won the Boys’ Team title three days earlier remains that is Tomokazu Harimoto, the top seed. He beat Italy’s Antonino Amato, the no.55 seed (11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8) to reserve his place in round three.

Progress for the top seed, it was the same for the second seed, Korea’s Cho Seungmin accounted for Belgium’s Florian Cnudde (12-10, 11-6, 11-4, 11-9).

Likewise amongst the elite names, Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic, the no.4 seed, overcame Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju (11-7, 9-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-4); An Jaehyun, the no.6 seed and also from Korea beat Denmark’s Anders Lind (11-8, 10-12, 11-7, 11-7, 11-5), whilst Frenchman, Alexandre Cassin, the no.7 seed, ended the hopes of DPR Korea’s Kim Song Il in a contest decided by the minimal margin in the seventh game (12-10, 6-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-5, 4-11, 11-9).

The third round and quarter-finals will be played later today.

World Junior Championships Rares Sipos Horacio Cifuentes

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