by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Furthermore, they secured the first place in style; they did not surrender a single individual match.

They beat the Spain ‘B’ trio of Alvaro Gainza, Miguel Nuñez and Juan Perez by three matches to nil, before recording the same margin of victory in opposition to the Portugal ‘A’ Team combination formed by José Pedro Francisco, Samuel da Silva and Vitor Amorin.

Defeat for the second seeds but there were no such problems for the leading outfits in the other three Junior Boys’ Team groups.
Never in danger, the Iranian trio comprising Ahmed Ahmadian, Amirrezza Abbasi and Hamid Shams duly topped their group as did the third seeded combination formed by England’s Matthew Daish, Thailand’s Yanapong Panagitgun and Romania’s Mihai Pop.

Success in style, it was the same for the Spain ‘A’ Team of Marc Guttierez, Alberto Lillo and Sergei Grau; top place in the group was reserved without alarm bells sounding.

Meanwhile, in the Junior Girls’ Team event, where there were two groups in the initial stage, the trio comprising Iran’s Mahshid Ashtari and Fatemeh Jamalifar alongside Uzbekistan’s Rozalina Khadjeva upset the order of merit. They beat the second seeded Spain ‘A’ Team formed by Carla Fernandez, Belen Calvo and Caremen Henares by three matches to nil, Most imposingly, the trio completed their first phase fixtures without the loss of a single individual match.

Similar to the Junior Boys’ Team event, only the outfits finishing in first place in each group advance. The top seed combination comprising Rachel Gerarts of the Netherlands, Thailand’s Jinippa Sawettasbut and Belgium’s Natacha Koszulap await; they finished in top spot in their group with an great alarms.

Play concludes in Guimarães on Saturday 25th November.