by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
First place in their group secured one day earlier; in the penultimate round they accounted for the second seeded combination formed by the Japanese duo of Yuko Kato and Kana Takeuchi, who joined forces with the host association’s Chen Ting-Ting.
Surprise defeat one day earlier
The reason for the rather earlier than planned meeting, being the fact that Yuko Kato, Kana Takeuchi and Chen Ting-Ting had suffered a somewhat surprise defeat at the hands of the Chinese Taipei ‘A’ Team combination of Wi Yi-Hua, hen Ying-Chen and Wen Ruei-Ling the previous day in the qualification stage.
Second place in the group had been their lot.
Closer than Score Suggests
Victory by three-nil matches to nil but it was a mighty close affair; two of the contests went the full distance; the other to four games.
Minnie Soo Wai Yam recovered from a two games to nil deficit to beat Yuko Kato by the very narrowest of margins (10-12, 12-14, 11-4, 11-7, 11-9), before Mak Tze Wing accounted for Kana Takeuchi (11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9) and Liu Qi concluded matters by overcoming Chen Ting-Ting (4-11, 11-6, 11-13, 11-7, 11-7).
Repeat Success
A place in the final booked, it was déjà vu. In the group stage one day earlier, a three-nil success had been posted against Chinese Taipei ‘C’; in the final it was just the same.
Minnie Soo Wai Yam set Hong Kong on the road to victory by beating Chien Tung-Chuan (11-3, 11-2, 11-9), before Mak Tze Wing defeated Su Pei-Ling (11-4, 11-6, 11-3) and Liu Qi sealed the success by overcoming Lee En-Chi (11-9, 12-10, 7-11, 8-11, 12-10).
Impressive at Semi-Final Stage
Most certainly it was a most impressive performance by the Hong Kong trio; earlier at the semi-final stage it had been the very same from the Chinese Taipei trio. They had beaten their colleagues on duty for Chinese Taipei ‘A’ by three matches to nil.
Lee En-Chi had set her team en route to success by overcoming Wu Yi-Hua (11-4, 11-8, 11-6), Su Pei-Ling followed suit by overcoming Chen Ying-Chen (11-4, 12-10, 11-3), before Chien Tung-Chuan defeated Wen Ruei-Ling to conclude matters (11-9, 11-8, 11-7).
Individual Events
Play concluded in the Junior Girls’ Team event; attention now turns to the individual events. Proceedings commence on Friday 26th August.
