Tournaments

05 May 2017

Semi-finalist earlier in the year in January at the 2016 ITTF World Junior Circuit Finals in the Indian city of Indore, when beaten by Chinese Taipei’s Li Hsing-Yang; Koyo Kanamitsu emerged as the surprise finalist, when the penultimate round concluded in the Under 21 Men’s Singles event at the 2017 ITTF Challenge Zagreb Open on the morning of Friday 5th May.

The no.24 seed, he accounted for Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko, the top seed and the player who earlier in the year on the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour had won in Hungary.

by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Furthermore, the 16 year old succeeded in style; he emerged successful in three straight games (11-8, 11-9, 11-9).

A surprise outcome, in the corresponding semi-final, there was also a seeding upset and the opposite fortunes for Japan; Yuto Kizukuri, the no.2 seed, was beaten by the Czech Republic’s Tomas Polansky, the no.5 seed (11-9, 6-11, 12-10, 11-8).

Success for Tomas Polansky and a degree of revenge; earlier in the year, he had experienced defeat at the hands of Yuto Kizukuri when the pair met in the same round at the 2017 ITTF Challenge Belgosstrakh Belarus Open in Minsk. On that occasion Tomas Polansky had experienced defeat in a full distance five games duel (4-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8).

Surprise outcomes at the semi-final stage of the Under 21 Men’s Singles event; in the corresponding Under 21 Women’s Singles competition matters progressed as per status but for the higher rated there were close calls.

Korea’s Ji Eunchae, the no.8 seed, resisted a spirited recovery from Japan’s 12 year old Miyuu Kihara, the no.16 seed, to emerge successful (11-7, 12-10, 6-11, 9-11, 11-7); Romania’s Adina Diaconu, the no.2 seed, recovered from a two games to one deficit to best Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz, the no.3 seed (8-11, 13-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-3).

Similar to Tomas Polansky, the win recorded by Adina Diaconu was somewhat of a revenge win; on their most recent meeting, the final of the Junior Girls’ Singles event at the 2016 Polish Junior and Cadet Open, Adriana Diaz had prevailed in four straight games (11-8, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6).

The finals of both the Under 21 Men’s Singles and Under 21 Women’s Singles events will be played later in the day.

Challenge Series 2017 Zagreb (Croatia) Open Adriana Diaz Adina Diaconu Yuto Kizukuri Miyuu Kihara Kirill Gerassimenko Tomas Polansky Koyo Kanamitsu Ji Eunchae
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