by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
One of three Cadet Girls’ Singles semi-finalists with no world ranking, in the penultimate round, Haruna Ojio overcame the one player with such a status. She beat Hong Kong’s Poon Yat, the no.9 seed, in four games (11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6).
Success against one player from the host association, in the final it was success against another; she overcame Yenn Ho Ching in three straight games to secure the top prize (11-2, 11-7, 11-7). In the counterpart semi-final, Yenn Ho Ching had accounted for colleague, Lee Chung Yan (11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 12-10).
The top step of the podium for Japan in the Cadet Girls’ Singles event, it was the same in the Cadet Girls’ Doubles competition but the success was hard earned.
Satsuki Odo and Yukari Sugasawa, the no.3 seeds, eventually emerged successful but only by the minimal margin, At the final hurdle they overcame Joanna Sung and Rachel Sung from the United States, the no.6 seeds, in tension packed five games contest (13-15, 11-6, 11-3, 11-13, 14-12).
Earlier in the day at the semi-final stage, Satsuki Odo and Yukari Sugasawa had beaten Hong Kong’s Lee Ka Yee and Ng Wing Lam, the top seeds (12-10, 11-7, 13-11); Joanna Sung and Rachel Sung had overcome Chinese Taipei’s Cai Fong-En and Huang Yu-Jie, the no.2 seeds (11-9, 4-11, 11-7, 11-9).
