by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Impressively, at the final hurdle they recorded a three matches to nil win against the French trio formed by Vincent Picard, Florian Bourrassaud and Jules Cavaille but, one round earlier, at the semi-final stage had been given a most severe test by the Brazilian outfit comprising Siddharta Almeida, Carlos Ishida and Guilherme Teodoro.
Victory by three matches two was the order of proceedings with Feng Yi-Hsin, runner up in the Junior Boys’ Singles event and unbeaten throughout the Junior Boys’ Team competition, the backbone of victory.
He beat both Siddharta Almeida (11-5, 11-7, 11-7) and Carlos Ishida (11-7, 11-7, 11-7) with the one further Chinese Taipei success being secured by Tai Ming-Wei. In the fifth and concluding match of the engagement, he accounted for Siddharta Almeida (11-8, 11-5, 11-3). The wins for Brazil were secured by Carlos Ishida against Tai Ming-Wei (5-11, 14-12, 14-12, 19-17) and by Guilherme Teodoro in opposition to Kai Min-Chi (12-10, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7).
One round earlier at the quarter-final stage, Chinese Taipei had beaten the Korea ‘A’ team trio of Bak Taehong, Yang Yechan and Jang Seongil by three matches to one; the one success for the Koreans being recorded by Jang Seongil. In the third match of the fixture he accounted for Kai Min-Chi (11-7, 10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7).
A close call for Chinese Taipei en route to the final and eventually the title, it was even closer for France; at the quarter-final stage they were required to recover from a two games to nil deficit before in the deciding fifth match of the engagement securing victory by the very narrowest of margins.
Vincent Picard lost to Cédric Meissner (13-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7), Florian Bourrassaud was beaten by Kay Stumper (11-7, 7-11, 8-11, 11-7), before Jules Cavaille accounted for Meng Fanbo (13-11, 11-6, 10-12, 10-12, 11-8) to start the fightback. He was followed by Florian Bourrassaud who overcame Cédric Meissner (11-8, 11-4, 11-8) with Vincent Picard defeating Kay Stumper in dramatic fashion to complete the recovery (11-7, 8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 12-10).
Success in thrilling fashion; in the penultimate round life for Vincent Picard, Florian Bourrassaud and Jules Cavaille was less hectic; they beat the Russian trio comprising Maksim Grebnev, Artem Dvoynikov and Pavel Linev by three matches to nil.
