by Simon Daish

Kakeru Sone booked his spot in the final with a powerful performance against the top seed Feng Yi-Hsin, beating the Chinese Taipei competitor across three ends in the penultimate round (11-8, 11-8, 11-6).

The other semi-finals encounter saw another Japanese player come out on top as Jo Yokotani condemned the second seed Kazuki Hamada to elimination (11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 8-11, 11-3), setting up a tie with Kakeru Sone for the title.

Rather unexpectedly it was a battle between the third and fifth seeded players for the trophy and, regardless of the result, Japan was guaranteed to succeed with both finalists representing the country.

In a fairly one-sided duel Kakeru Sone produced an impressive display, and with his capture of the opening three games (11-7, 11-5, 11-4) the Cadet Boys’ Singles trophy was secured.

The Cadet Boys’ Doubles title was won by a mixed nationality pairing as Hungary’s Csaba Andras and Sweden’s Martin Friis combined to perfection.

Csaba Andras and Martin Friis overcame the challenge of Poland’s Maciej Kubik and Samuel Kulczycki with a victory over four games (11-8, 11-6, 4-11, 11-9), leaving the home spectators somewhat disappointed but ultimately proud of their representatives.

The 2017 ITTF World Junior Circuit leaves Wladyslawowo–Cetniewo after five days of exciting action, and there isn’t long to wait before the next stop on the calendar with the 2017 Slovak Junior Open taking place in Bratislava from Thursday 1st June to Sunday 4th June.