by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
A semi-finalist in the Cadet Boys’ Singles event in Spain when beaten by Italy’s Carlo Rossi, a winner the previous week in Portugal when beating the host nation’s Tiago Li in the final; Takeru Kashiwa is the third highest rated player on duty in the Cadet Boys’ Singles event.
Chinese Taipei’s Feng Yi-Hsin and Tai Ming-Wei are the respective top two names; notably both have enjoyed considerable success in this year’s ITTF World Junior Circuit.
Impressively, Tai Ming-Wei reached the semi-final stage of the Junior Boys’ Singles event in Thailand, whilst in India he was the runner up. Additionally, in India he was crowned Cadet Boys’ Singles champion whilst on home soil in Taipei City, he achieved the same feat.
Two Cadet Boys’ Singles titles for Tai Ming-Wei; it is one for Feng Yi-Hsin. A semi-finalist in Croatia when beaten by Sharon Alguetti of the United States, he won in Slovenia when he extracted a degree of revenge. He beat Vitor Liu in the final, like Sharon Alguetti, from the United States.
Chinese Taipei to the fore in the Cadet Boys’ Singles event; it is the same in the Cadet Girls’ Singles competition where Tsai Yu-Chin is the leading name.
Present on the ITTF World Junior Circuit on just one prior occasion this year; she was the runner up in the Junior Girls’ Singles event in Jordan, the Cadet Girls’ Singles winner.
However, like Takeru Kashiwa, she faces a stern challenge; Hong Kong’s Wong Chin Yau, who reached the semi-final stage of the Cadet Girls’ Singles event in France and was the winner in Chinese Taipei, is the second name in the list.
Prithika Pavade of France who has yet to assert herself on this year’s ITTF World Junior Circuit but was a quarter-finalist in the Cadet Girls’ Singles event earlier this year at the 2016 European Youth Championships, completes the top three names.
A total of 44 boys and 52 girls have entered the Slovak Cadet Open; play concludes on Monday 31st October.
