08/17/2012        Nikon 2012 Hong Kong Junior & Cadet Open - ITTF Premium Junior Circuit

Winners of the Junior Girls’ Team event one day earlier, the Chinese quartet of Gu Yuting, Gu Ruochen, Lin Gaoyang and Liu Xi continued their fine form in the first stage of the Junior Girls’ Team event at the Nikon Hong Kong Junior and Cadet Open on Friday 17th August 2012.

All four finished remained unbeaten to finish in first place in their respective groups. Only Liu Gaoyang, the third seed, experienced any great difficulties.

After recording a straight games win over Hong Kong’s Wat Yui Kiu (11-1, 11-3, 11-3), she had to recover from a two games to nil deficit to overcome Chinese Taipei’s Chiu Ssu-Hua.

She won in a full distance five games contest (9-11, 4-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-2).

Chiu Ssu-Hua beat Wat Yi Kiu (11-3, 11-7, 11-5) to secure second place in the group and thus a passport to the main draw.

Leading Names Progress
Success for China, all are players who appear amongst the leading names in the Junior Girls’ Singles event. Furthermore, there was success for the other principal protagonists.

Singapore’s Zhou Yihan, the no.4 seed, Japan’s Mima Ito, the no.6 seed below and Hong Kong’s Doo Hoi Kem, the no. 7 seed, all finished in first place in their respective groups.

Second Place for Lin Ye
However, that was not the situation for Singapore’s Lin Ye, the no.8 seed.

She finished in second place in her group; she beat Hong Kong’s Wong Chung Wan in her opening duel (11-4, 13-11, 12-14, 11-5) but was then beaten by Japan’s Rira Ishikawa (12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 11-8).

Rira Ishikawa finished in first place, in the concluding group match, she overcame Wong Chung Wan (11-5, 11-8, 11-4).

Mixed Fortunes
Smiles for Rira Ishikawa on what was a day of mixed fortunes for Japan.

In addition to Rira Ishikawa Miyu Kato caused an upset but Yui Hamamoto and Miu Hirano both suffered unexpected defeats.

Miyu Hirano
Miyu Kato defeated Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Yee, the no.10 seed (14-12, 6-11, 11-5, 11-3), before overcoming Fan Pui Long, also from Hong Kong (11-3, 11-9, 11-3) to secure first place in the group. Ng Ka Yee defeated Fan Pui Long (16-18, 11-4, 11-7, 11-5) to clinch second spot in the group.

Second Place
However for Yui Hamamoto, the no.9 seed, as it was for Miu Hirano, the no.11 seed, it was a different story.

Both had to settle for second place in their groups.

Suffering From Pressure
Yui Hamamoto opened her account with a close five games win against Chinese Taipei’s Liao Shih-Yun (8-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-7) but was then beaten by Hong Kong’s Lam Yee Lok, by the very narrowest of margins in a full distance duel (11-8, 6-11, 11-6, 9-11, 13-11).

"I'm suffering from the pressure of playing in the older category”, said Yui Hamamoto. “I hope I can improve and gain better results.”

Lam Yee Lok accounted for Chinese Taipei’s Liao Shih-Yun (11-8, 11-7, 11-5) to secure first place in the group.

Miu Hirano
Meanwhile, Miu Hirano overcame Canada’s Phoebe Wong in her opening duel (11-7, 11-6, 11-4) and Hong Kong’s Chow Yuen Ying (11-2, 11-3, 11-5) but experienced defeat at the hands of Li Ching Wan, also from Hong Kong (9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9).

Defeat for Miu Hirano but coach Riki Watanabe was philosophical.

“They have already good results in Cadet events”, he said “The tough atmosphere of the junior events will help them improve.”

First place in the group went to Li Ching Wan; she accounted for Chow Yuen Ying (11-3, 11-4, 11-5) and Phoebe Wong (11-5, 11-4, 11-4).

Notable Names Stumble
Meanwhile in the Cadet Girls’ Singles event; two notable names had to settle for second place and one for third place.

Singapore’s Cheryl Tang, the no.4 seed and Yin Herng Hwee, the no.8 seed had to settle for second places in their groups; whilst for Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Tung, the no.7 seed, her lot was third place.

Cheryl Tang
Cheryl Tang was beaten by Hong Kong’s Liu Qi (11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-4), before overcoming Michelle Yang, also from Hong Kong (11-4, 12-10, 10-12, 11-6); Liu Qi duly finished in first place in the group, in her opening contest she overcame Michelle Yang (11-7, 11-5, 11-4).

Yee Herng Hwee
Similarly for Yee Herng Hwee it was one defeat.

She was beaten by Chinese Taipei’s Chen Yen-Shin in her opening contest (11-5, 4-11, 11-9, 11-5), before accounting for Hong Kong’s Mak Tze Wing (16-14, 11-8, 15-17, 11-7) and Leung Ka Wan, also from Hong Kong (11-6, 11-2, 11-6).

Chen Yen-Shin accounted for Leung Ka Wan (11-4, 11-5, 11-6) and for Mak Tze Wing in a tense encounter (11-5, 11-13, 11-5, 7-11, 12-10) to top the group.

No Main Draw Place
Places in the main draw for Cheryl Tang and Yin Herng Hwee but not for Wong Wing Tung.

She suffered on her first two visits to the table, she was beaten by Hong Kong’s Chan Yik Kwan (11-8, 11-9, 12-10) and by Chinese Taipei’s Lee En-Yai (11-4, 11-5, 5-11, 13-11), before concluding her first stage matches with victory in opposition to Thailand’s Atitaya Suwantiyakun (11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4).

Top Two Places
Lee En-Yai finished in first place in the group; she overcame Atitaya Suwantiyakun (11-8, 11-4, 4-11, 11-5) before accounting for Chan Yik Kwan (5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6).

Chan Yik Kwan secured second place in the group; in addition to beating Wong Wing Tun, she defeated Atitaya Suwantiyakun (10-12, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9).

Successful Day
Problems for three seeded players in the Cadet Girls’ Singles event but that was not the case for the other five.

Hong Kong’s Minnie Soo Wai Yam and Vaness Leung Tsz Ching emerged unscathed and in first place in their group as did the Chinese Taipei trio of Lin Chia-Hsuan, Lee Yu-Peng and Wang Ting-Lyu.

Schedule
Proceedings in the main draw and in the doubles events start on Saturday 18th August; play concludes on Sunday 19th August.