Tournaments

22 Aug 2017

Impressive in late May when he progressed through the qualification stage of proceedings to reach the first round of the Men’s Singles event at the Liebherr 2017 World Championships in Düsseldorf; Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju was the player to cause the biggest upset as play commenced on Tuesday 22nd August at the Seamaster 27th ITTF World Tour Czech Open in Olomouc.

Just five days after celebrating his 16th birthday, the no.14 seed, he accounted for Denmark’s Anders Lind, the no.21 seed (11-1, 12-10, 11-9), before upsetting the odds by overcoming Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko, the no.3 seed (11-3, 11-4, 11-8) and winner earlier this year in Hungary.

by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

A last eight place against expectations, he was not alone; the host nation’s Tomas Polansky also upset the odds.

In a current rich vein of form having reached the final the previous week in Bulgaria when eventually beaten by Japan’s Mizuki Oikawa; occupying the no.9 seeded position in the draw, the 19 year old caused Slovenia heartaches. In the opening round he beat Deni Kozul, the no.18 seed (11-8, 11-8, 11-8), before upsetting the pecking order by overcoming Darko Jorgic, the no.9 seed (11-9, 2-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-5).

No place in the last eight for two notable names; that was not the situation for Japan’s Yuto Kizukuri, the top seed nor for Sweden’s Anton Källberg, the no.2 seed; likewise, Frenchman, Can Akkuzu, the no.4 seed, also progressed.

However, the places were not booked without some testing times; Yuto Kizukuri in particular experienced nervous moments. In the second round he had to withstand a brave recovery by Chinese Taipei’s Yang Tzu-Yu, the no.17 seed, before emerging success (11-5, 11-8, 11-13, 17-19, 11-5).

Meanwhile, less dramatically, Can Akkuzu also caused Chinese Taipei problems by beating Yang Heng-Wei, the no.10 seed (11-5, 8-11, 11-3, 11-3), whilst rather more comfortably Anton Källberg ended the hopes of Japan’s Koyo Kanamitsu, the no.16 seed (11-5, 11-9, 11-6).

At the quarter-final stage to be played later in the day, Yuto Kizukuri meets German’s Kilian Ort, the no7 seed; Can Akkuzu confronts, Japan’s Yuma Tsuboi, the no.8 seed. In the opposite half of the draw, Lin Yun-Ju faces Tomas Polansky, Anton Källberg confronts China’s Xue Fei, the no.5 seed.

World Tour 2017 Seamaster Czech Open Lin Yun -Ju Tomas Polansky
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