by Ian Marshall, Editor

Notably, Lin Yun-Ju who celebrates his 17th birthday, later this week on Friday 17th August is on duty in Panagyurishte; thus Chinese Taipei field junior age group players in all three current tournaments, such is their strength in depth.

Lin Yun-Ju, wherever he plays, catches the eye but in San Salvador, the name to note is that of Fang Sih-Han. She may appear as the no.9 seed in the Junior Girls’ Singles event but she is the favourite for gold; her record supersedes all others.

Just over one week ago, she was the runner up in Jordan, a title she won in 2016. Equally in 2016 she was a semi-finalist in Thailand, whilst at the ITTF World Junior Circuit Finals staged in Indore, India in early 2017, she advanced to the same round.

In San Salvador, she lines up alongside Tsai Yu-Chin, Chen Tsai-Ni and Liu Ru-Yun; notably Tsai Yu-Chin is the top seed and could well prove the biggest threat to the ambitions of Fan Sih-Han. Earlier this year she reached the quarter-final round in Hong Kong; Chen Tsai-Ni and Liu Yu-Run are very much treading international waters for the first time.

Most certainly for the host continent, facing such adversaries as Fang Sih-Han is a prodigious task. El Salvador’s Monica Mendoza and Keren Constanza are the respective second and third seeds in the Junior Girls’ Singles event, followed by Puerto Rico’s Mileysha Sanchez.

Guatemala’s Mercedes Mendizabal and Hidalynn Zapata, alongside Fabiola Diaz, like Mileysha Sanchez also from Puerto Rico and Chile’s Natalie Ramos, complete the top eight names.