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2018 Polish Junior & Cadet Open - ITTF Premium Junior Circuit

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World Junior Circuit

Fourth attempt, Xiang Peng succeeds

25 May 2018

A fourth appearance of the year on the ITTF World Junior Circuit, a first title; China’s Xiang Peng won the Junior Boys’ Singles event at the 2018 Polish Junior and Cadet Open in Wladyslawowo-Cetniewo on Thursday 24th May.

Always competitive, always a place on the podium, the win brought to an end a series of near misses.

Xiang Peng, the Junior Boys' Singles winner in Wladyslawowo-Cetniewo (Photo: Bogdan Pasek)

by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

In both Italy and France he reached the semi-final round; in Thailand he was beaten by colleague Kuang Li in the final before later in the day extracting revenge to win Cadet Boys’ Singles gold.

Not listed amongst the top 40 names in Wladyslawowo-Cetniewo, in the later stages the 15 year old accounted for Egypt’s Youssef Abdel-Aziz, the no.8 seed (12-10, 13-11, 11-7, 13-11), prior to recording a quarter-final success against colleague Cao Yantao (11-8, 11-7, 13-11, 11-9) and a semi-final win in opposition to Romania’s Cristian Pletea, the no.2 seed (16-14, 11-9, 12-10, 11-9).

Notably in the second round Cristian Pletea had beaten Kuang Li (12-14, 11-4, 11-9, 8-11, 13-11, 11-7) prior to ousting Ioannis Sgouropoulos, the no.6 seed and reigning European Youth champion (16-14, 11-9, 12-10, 11-9). Likewise Cao Yantao, a quarter-finalist in the Czech Republic, had upset the order of merit. He had overcame Chinese Taipei’s Feng Yi-Hsin, the no.3 seed, in round three (11-3, 12-10, 7-11, 11-2, 11-9).

A place in the final booked; Xiang Peng secured the title at the expense of compatriot, Xu Yingbin, the no.4 seed (11-9, 11-2, 12-14, 12-10, 11-7), a player for whom once again it was so near yet so far. However, it was one step higher, in his three previous ITTF World Junior Circuit appearances this year, always he had finished in the bronze medal position. He was a semi-finalist in the Czech Republic, France and Thailand.

Impressive from Xiang Peng, it had been the same from Xu Yingbin en route to the final. At the quarter-final stage he had beaten Japan’s Takeru Kashiwa, the no.16 seed (11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-2), before at the semi-final stage overcoming colleague, Yuan Licen, the no.19 seed (7-11, 5-11, 11-2, 11-6, 4-11, 11-6, 11-8), the winner in the first tournament of the year in Oman. Impressively, in the second round Yuan Licen had accounted for Romania’s Rares Sipos, the top seed (6-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-4, 11-7).

The individual events concluded, attention now turns to team event, proceedings conclude on Sunday 27th May.

World Junior Circuit 2018 Polish Junior & Cadet Open Xiang Peng

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