No Chinese in Cadet Boys’ main draw!

Mumbai, September 15, 2014: Top four seeds in both Cadet Boys and Girls received first-round bye and will await their opponents in the quarterfinals, to be played later tonight here, at the 20th Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships at the Sardar Patel Stadium.

But the surprising aspect that no Chinese player—only two were entered—qualified for the main draw, leaving the field open for Japan, Chinese Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong and the two Koreas to exploit.  Peng Feilong and Xu Yingbin, the two Chinese, bowed out in the group stages of the match.

From among the 21 players, divided into 12 groups, only two girls—Archana Kamath and Abhinaya Ramesh—qualified for the main draw, though six were in the fray at group stages. But out of the six Indian Cadet Boys, no one made the cut, despite the hosts were allowed the luxury of two extra entries each in the two categories.

When the seeding list was out, the Japanese must have been the happiest lot to see three of their players—Miu Hirano, Mima Ito and Hina Hayata—taking the first three slots in Cadet Girls section. China’s Mu Jingyu was seeded fourth while Hong Kong’s Lee Ka Yee at fifth. Koreans Kim Youjin and Kim Jiho were at sixth and eighth with Chinese Qian Tianyi sandwiched between them at seventh.

As for the boys, Korean Hwang Minha was top-seeded while Yuto Kizukuri was behind him at No. 2. The other Japanese seeded include Takuto Izumo at No. 4 and Yukiya Uda at No. 8. Korean An Jaehyun was placed at No. 3 while Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju and Li Hsin-Yang were at Nos. 5 and 6. Kim Daewoo, the lone bottom-half Korean, got position eight.  

TTFI Press release