Saturday, December 15, 2012

Fan brings cool breeze to Chinese camp


Hyderabad, December 11, 2012: The Chinese fortress was shaken a bit when the French barrage from Enzo Angles hit Shengpeng Fan, but the Asian powerhouse arrested any further damage with a return of fire from Zhendon Fan to restore order with a 3-1 victory to enter the boys’ final of the Volkswagen 2012 World Junior Table Tennis Championships at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here today. Their rivals in the final tomorrow will be Japan, who beat South Korea 3-1.

For China, Fan did the repair work when it was needed the most a comprehensive 3-0 triumph over Tristan Flore. Earlier, he beat France’s top guy Simon Gauzy in a convincing way. In fact, when Angles reduced China’s lead to 1-2 in the third match, it must have given a minor headache to them. But Fan put all end to the French ambition in double quick time.

Eighteen-year-old Masaki Yoshida emerged the hero on the day after his close battle against Taipei’s Chia-Sheng Lee in the quarters. But for him the Japanese would not have made it to the semifinals. Once in the semis, they were a confident-looking bunch and it reflected in their game against Korea, who failed to resist their assault beyond delaying the proceedings.   

Earlier, the Chinese girls too had some hiccups, but their No. 1 Yuling Zhu pulled it off by winning both her singles to beat Hong Kong 3-1. For the first time in the championships, some chinks were spotted in the Chinese as well as Japanese citadels.

Though the Chinese nipped the German challenge in the bud, the Japanese girls struggled hard against a much-improved Hong Kong.  Germany’s Petrissa Solja had a mixed bag winning her first match against Yuting Gu but failed to comprehend China’s No. 1 player Yuling Zhu in the reverse singles which ultimately put China in final.

Displaying a never-say-die attitude, Hong Kong began strongly against Japan winning their first rubber through Hoi Kem Doo, their best bet. She first accounted for Miyu Maeda 3-1 and then took on Ayuka Tanioka’s challenge gamely to win the gripping five-setter.

Girls better than boys
The Manika Batra-led Indians could not withstand the Chinese Taipei onslaught and wilted under constant pressure to lose 0-3. But they blanked out the Netherlands 3-0 to finish eleventh in the championships.

In the morning, Manika was able to take just a game off her Taipei opponent Hsin Huang while Reeth Rishya was full of errors against Yu Wen and went down in straight sets. Karnam Spoorthy, playing her first match in the championships, did well to stretch Ya-Ting Hsu and even take the first game. But that was all she could do as Hsu just rolled over her without much inhibition.

Against the Netherlands, however, the Indian girls started with Spoorthy who beat Rianne van Duin 3-0 and then Manika Batra downed Alice Barendregt for a 2-0 lead. Suthirtha Mukherjee rounded off the score with a 3-1 verdict against Kim Vermaas.  

Indian boys eventually finished 16th after losing their positional match to a higher-ranked Egypt 3-1. The onus was on Abhishek Yadav to win his both singles, but the left-hander won the first and faltered to deceive in the other against Omar Bedair. He, in fact, helped Egypt finish ahead of India.

Despite leading 5-1 at change over in the decider of his reverse singles against Bedair, Yadav allowed seven straight points to his opponent to concede the lead. The Indian had his chance yet again at 11-10, but his push and prod at a crucial stage only helped his rival who made it 11-11 by breaking Yadav. Then he held his serve and broke Yadav once again to put the issue beyond India. Sudhanshu Grover had earlier stretched his opponent Omar Bedair to the wire and Utkarsh Gupta managed just a game against Abdel-Rahman. 

Results:
Junior Boys: (Semifinals): China bt France 3-1 Zhendong Fan bt Simon Gauzy 11-9, 11-5, 11-2, Gaoyuan Lin bt Tristan 11-9, 11-8, 11-9, Shenpeng Fan lost to Enzo Angles 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 10-12, 12-14, Zhendong Fan bt Tristan Flore 11-9, 11-9, 11-3), Japan bt South Korea 3-1 (Masaki Hoshida bt Deokhwa Choi 11-7, 11-3, 11-3, Yuto Muramatsu bt Woojin Jang 13-11, 11-4, 5-11, 4-11, 13-11, Asuka Sakai lost to Minhyeok Kim 11-9, 9-11, 5-11, 5-11, Yuto Muramatsu bt Deokhwa Choi 10-12, 11-9, 13-11, 11-6).
Quarterfinals: South Korea bt Hong Kong  3-0 (Woojin Jang bt Chung Hei Chiu 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, Deokhwa Choi bt Hong Ming Li 11-5, 11-8, 11-8, Minhyeok Kim bt Ka Tak Hung 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 7-11, 11-3), France bt Poland 3-0 (Simon Gauzy bt Konard Kulpa 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5, Tristan Flore bt Jakub Dyjas 9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-8, Antooine Hachard bt Michal Bankosz 9-11, 14-12, 11-2, 11-5), China bt Germany 3-0 (Zhendong Fan bt Benedikt Duda 11-6, 11-6, 11-4, Gaoyuan Lin bt Frederick Jost 11-9, 11-6, 11-9, Shengpeng Fan bt Liang Qiu 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4), Japan bt Chinese Taipei 3-2 (Yuto Muramatsu lost to Chia-Sheng Lee 6-11, 9-11, 11-5, 7-11, Masaki Yoshida bt Tzu-Hsiang Hung 11-7, 12-10, 11-6, Asuka Sakai lost to Cheng-Ting Liao 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, Yuto Muramatsu bt Tzu-Hsiang Hung 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-3, Masaki Yoshida bt Chia-Sheng Lee 12-10, 19-17, 11-6).

Positions: 9-12: Czech Republic bt Belgium 3-2, Brazil bt Hungary 3-1; Positions: 13-16: Argentina bt Italy 3-0, Egypt bt India 3-1 (Shady Magdy lost to Abhishek Yadav 11-7, 8-11, 10-12, 7-11, Omar Bedair bt  Sudhanshu 4-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-13, 11-7, Abdel-Rahman Mohamed bt Utkarsh Gupta 11-7, 6-11, 11-5, 11-8, Omar Bedair bt Abhishek Yadav 11-9, 6-11, 12-14, 11-9, 13-11).

Junior Girls: (Semifinals): China bt Germany 3-1 (Yuting Gu lost to Petrisa Solja 12-10, 7-11, 7-11, 9-11, Yuling Zhu bt Theresa Kraft 11-4, 11-2, 11-6, Ruochen Gu bt Anja Schuh 11-6, 8-11, 14-12, 11-8, Yuling Zhu bt Petrissa Solja 11-6, 11-7, 11-5), Japan bt Hong Kong 3-2 (Miyu Maeda lost to Hoi Kem Doo 6-11, 8-11, 15-13, 9-11, Ayuka Tanioka bt Ching Wan Li 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, Mima Ito bt Yee Lok Lam 11-7, 11-3, 11-7, Ayuka Tanioka lost to Hoi Kem Doo 11-5, 11-6, 5-11, 4-11, 10-12, Miyu Maeda bt Ching Wan Li 11-4, 11-6, 11-8).
Quarterfinals: China bt South Korea 3-0 (Yuting Gu bt Yumi Jung 11-4, 11-8, 11-5, Yuling Zhu bt Zion Lee 11-6, 11-6, 11-6, Ruochen Gu bt Dasom Lee 11-4, 11-7, 11-6), Japan bt Romania 3-0 (Ayuka Tanioka bt Bernadett Balint 11-3, 11-8, 11-5, Miyu Madea bt Bernadette Szcos 11-5, 14-12, 12-10, Miyu Kato bt Irina Coibanu 14-12, 11-4, 11-6), Hong Kong bt Croatia 3-1 (Ching Wan Li lost to Lea Rakovac 14-16, 5-11, 8-11, Hoi Kem Doo bt Mateja Jeger 9-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-2, Wai Yam Minnie Soo bt Ivana Tubkanec 12-14, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9, Hoi Kem Doo bt Lea Rakovac 11-3, 11-4, 7-11, 11-3), Germany bt USA 3-2 (Patrissa Solja bt Prachi Jha 11-4, 11-6, 11-6, Teresa Kraft bt Lily Zhang 10-12, 11-1, 11-3, 11-3, Anja Schuh bt Isabel Chu 11-6, 13-11, 11-3, Patrissa Solja bt Lily Zhang 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-5, Teresa Kraft bt Prachi Jha 13-11, 11-8, 9-11, 9-11,11-5).

Positions: 9-12: Chinese Taipei bt India 3-0 (Hsin Huang bt Manika Batra 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8, Yu-Wen Huang bt T. Reeth Rishya 11-7, 11-3, 11-8, Ya-Ting Hsu bt Karnam Spoorthy 7-11, 11-7, 12-10, 12-10), Russia bt Netherlands 3-1, Chinese Taipei bt Russia 3-0, India bt Netherlands (Karnam Spoorthy bt Rianne van Duin 11-2, 11-8, 11-5, Manika Batra bt Alice Barendregt 11-5, 11-3, 11-3, Suthirtha Mukherjee bt Kim Vermaas 11-4, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7).

TTFI Press release


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