by Ian Marshall, Editor
In the final of the junior girls’ team event, a 3-1 win was the order of the day for Li Yake, Li Yuqi and Wang Tianyi in opposition to Chinese Taipei’s Chien Tung-Chuan, Yu Hsui-Ting and Lee Wan-Hsuan.
Wang Tianyi gave her team the perfect start by beating Chien Tung-Chuan (11-7, 6-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-7), before Li Yake accounted for Yu Hsiu-Ting (11-6, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7) and later returned to conclude matters by overcoming Chien Tung-Chuan (11-4, 11-6, 11-8). The player to cause the problems for the Chinese trio was Lee Wan-Hsuan; in the third match of the fixture, by the narrowest of margins she recovered from a two games to nil deficit to beat Li Yuqi (7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9).
“It was really important in the final that my teammate could win the first match, because it gave us a good start and confidence for my matches. I am really happy that I could win two matches for my team.” Li Yake
Elena Zaharia shines
A relatively hard fought win for the Chinese trio but not as testing as in the semi-final when facing the Romanian outfit formed by Iona Singeorzan, Denisa Uritu and Elena Zaharia; a 3-2 victory margin and perilously close to defeat was the order of the day.
Elena Zaharia beat both Wang Tanyi (4-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-9) and Li Yake (11-6, 8-11, 11-4, 8-11, 12-10). Additionally in the third match of the fixture, Ioana Singeorzan won the opening two games against Li Yuqi before experiencing a five games defeat (12-14, 8-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-6). One wonders, had that contest gone the other way would it have been a 3-1 Romanian victory? We will never know.
Focused in the vital fifth match of the engagement, Wang Tianyi overcame Denisa Uritu to seal the victory.
In the opposite half of the draw, Chien Tung-Chuan, Yu Hsui-Ting and Lee Wan-Hsuan had recorded a 3-0 win in opposition to the Belarus combination of Ulyana Alkhouskaya, Darya Kisel and Karyna Padrazhanets.
Full five match final
Tense moments at the semi-final stage of the junior girls’ team event; in the cadet girls’ team competition, the nervous times were experienced in the final.
Leng Yutong, Qin Yuxuan and Sun Xiaomeng combined to record a 3-2 win in opposition to Chinese Taipei’s Chu Yi-Ching and Tsai Yun-En. Backbone of the victory was Leng Yutong; in the opening match of the fixture she beat Chu Yi-Ching (11-8, 11-5, 12-14, 11-9), before in the fifth and deciding contest accounting for Tsai Yun-En (11-6, 5-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6). The one further success for the Chinese team was secured by Qin Yuxuan, the fourth match, she overcame Chu Yi-Ching (11-6, 10-12, 11-9, 11-8).
“I am really happy. It was a really long match. We were expecting a tough match against Chinese Taipei. I think it was really important that I concentrated well in the key moments and I could also follow my coach’s tactical suggestions. My team mates support helped a lot to win the last match.” Leng Yutong
Earlier at the quarter-final stage Leng Yutong, Qin Yuxuan and Sun Xiaomeng had recorded a 3-0 win against Portugal’s Matilde Pinto and Ines Gonçalves, before by the same margin overcoming the United States pairing of Joanna Sung and Rachel Sung.
Comfortable progress, for Chu Yi-Ching and Tsai Yun-En, life had been more exacting. A 3-0 quarter-final win was recorded against Belgium’s Sara Devos and Julie Van Hauwaert, before the full five matches were needed to end the progress of the combination formed by Ireland’s Sophie Earley and Egypt’s Hana Goda.
Emphatic success
Hard fought success for the girls; for their male counterparts, life was less demanding, especially for the junior boys’ trio comprising Liang Guodon, Quan Kaiyuan and Zeng Beixun. Just as the previous day in the group stage not one individual match was surrendered.
At the quarter-final stage a comprehensive win was recorded against Croatia’s Ivor Ban, Borna Petek and Leon Santek, one round later it was the same when facing the international combination of Japan’s Seu Goto, Israel’s Tal Israeli and Sokratis Giannoutsos of Greece. A place in the final booked, there was no charity was spared; a similar resounding win was registered against the French trio of Alexis Lebrun, Fabio Rakotoarimanana and Alexis Kouraichi.
Zeng Beixun beat Alexis Lebrun (11-9, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6), before Quan Kaiyuan overcame Fabio Rakotoarimanana (12-10, 11-8, 11-3) and Liang Guodong prevailed in opposition to Alexis Kouraichi (11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8) to end matters.
“I am really happy that I could change the result of the match. My win was really important to finish the match. We know that the French guys are really good so we had to play with confidence.” Liang Guodon
Emphatic wins, in the adjacent half of the draw life had been more testing for France. A 3-1 win was the end result at the quarter-final stage against Poland’s Szymon Kolasa, Lukasz Sokolowski and Kuba Kwapis, before a full distance 3-2 success, in opposition to Belgium’s Nicolas Degros, Louis Laffineur and Adrien Rassenfosse, reserved a place in the final.
Impressive quartet
Similarly there was no stopping the Chinese outfit comprising Hu Dongshen, Tao Yuchong, Yang Qulong and Zhang Minghao in the cadet boys’ team competition.
A 3-0 win was the outcome in the final against Romania’s Darius Movileanu and Iulian Chirita, after at the quarter-final stage the same margin of success had been the result when facing Russia’s Vladislav Bannikov and Sergey Ryzhov. Progress to the semi-finals, a 3-1 success in opposition to Korea Republic’s Oh Junsung and Lim Yunoh reserved a place in the final.
“They were the top seeded team so we expected that it won’t be easy to win, so we are really happy that we could managed to do it. After the first two single matches we felt more confident and we played more freely in the rest of the match. I think our team spirit was really good and it helped a lot obviously.” Tao Yuchong
Impressive from the Chinese quartet, it was the same from Darius Movileanu and Iulian Chirita en route to the final. A 3-0 victory in the quarter-finals against Slovakia’s Jakub Goldir and Kristian Uherik and Samuel Palusek was followed by the same success when facing Hungary’s David Santosi and Erik Huzsvar.
Play ends on Sunday 10th November when the cadet boys’ singles, cadet girls’ singles, cadet boys’ doubles and cadet girls’ doubles events will be played to a conclusion.
