by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Cho Daesong and Yukiya Uda beat the pair comprising Australia’s Finn Luu and Len Yang of the United States (11-7, 11-4, 11-3); Maciej Kolodziejczyk and Vladimir Sidorenko overcame the partnership involving Egypt’s Mohamed Sameh and Iran’s Navid Shams (11-9, 11-4, 11-7).
Fine performances but pride of place went to the African pairing of Egypt’s Marwan Abdelwahab and Tunisia’s Aboubaker Bourass; against all expectations they recovered from a two games to nil deficit to beat China’s Fan Langyu and Gao Shentong by the very narrowest of margins in a tense five games contest (6-11, 3-11, 11-2, 11-7, 11-9).
“We played well today; when we faced China it is always difficult but we focused on the match. We lost the first two games but we managed to recover and take the next three games. I still can’t believe we have won. Tomorrow we hope we can continue our performance today”, Marwan Abdelwahab after beating Fan Langyu and Gao Shentong
Success for the leading names in the opening round of the Boys’ Doubles event, it was the same in the Girls’ Doubles competition; also there was one performance to attract the attention.
Japan’s Miyuu Kihara and Hong Kong’s Lee Ka Yee, the top seeds, were not required to raise their rackets in anger; Amy Wang and Crystal Wang of the United States, the no.2 seeds, proved too strong for the Hopes combination of Mexico’s Arantxa Cossio Aveves and Romania’s Elena Zaharia.
Defeat for one Romanian but it was another Romanian who caught the eye; Tania Plaian in partnership with Poland’s Anna Wegrzyn, like their male counterparts Marwan Abdelwahab and Aboubaker Bourass, caused China heartache. They accounted for Chen Yi and Xu Fan (11-5, 8-11, 11-6, 14-12).
An opening round reverse for Chen Yi and Xu Fan in the opening round of the Girls’ Doubles competition; at the same stage of the innovative Mixed Doubles event, a competition which involves two boys and two girls from each team drawn at random with players from another team and matches best of three games, it was mixed fortunes for the Chinese duo.
Xu Fan in partnership with New Zealand’s Zhao Yanglun beat Puerto Rico’s Gabriel Perez and Vong Hui Ling, also from New Zealand (11-4, 11-4).
“In the mixed doubles, I paired with New Zealand’s Vong Hui Ling, it was the first time we played together. We lost in the first round but it was a lot of fun for us. The mixed doubles draw last night was very interesting, because none of us knew who we will be pairing up with. I was all dependent on luck. It was very funny to watch and we were all teasing each other.” Gabriel Perez after losing to Zhao Yanglun and Xu Fan
Conversely, Chen Yi in harness with Victor Liu of the United States, experienced defeat at the hands of colleagues. They were beat by Yin Tianyue and Crystal Wang (15-13, 11-9); like Victor Liu, Cystal Wang is from the United States, similar to Chen Yi, Yin Tianyue is from China.
Somewhat similarly, for the leading names in the Boys’ Doubles and Girls’ Doubles events, it was differing fortunes where the Mixed Doubles was in question.
Cho Daeseong and Amy Wang beat the combination of China’s Song Zhuheng and Mexico’s Atantxa Cossio Aceves (11-4, 6-11, 11-3); Yukiya Uda and Elena Zaharia defeated the partnership formed by Australia’s Zaki Zenaidee and Japan’s Miyuu Kihara (11-4, 11-4).
Disappointment for Miyuu Kihara; it was the same for Vladimir Sidorenko. Partnering the Dominican Republic’s Esmerlyn Castro, it was defeat at the hands of Sharon Alguetti of the United States and the Czech Republic’s Zdena Blaskova (11-7, 11-8).
The quarter-finals of all three doubles events will be played on Friday 28th October.
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Schedule of Play
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Boys’ Teams and Girls’ Teams
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Cadet Boys’ Team – First Stage Results
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Cadet Girls’ Team – First Stage Results
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Cadet Boys’ Team – Main Draw
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Cadet Girls’ Team – Main Draw
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Cadet Boys’ Singles – Groups
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Cadet Boys’ Singles – Positions 1-16
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Cadet Boys’ Singles – Positions 17-32
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Cadet Girls’ Singles – Groups
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Cadet Girls’ Singles – Positions 1-16
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Cadet Girls’ Singles – Positions 17-32
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Cadet Boys’ Doubles
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Cadet Girls’ Doubles
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge: Cadet Mixed Doubles