Chinese Taipei competitors make positive impact in Under 21 Women's Singles main event opener

by Simon Daish

Lin Po-Hsuan is through to the last 16 of the Under 21 Women’s Singles tournament, after the Chinese Taipei athlete proved too strong for Thailand’s Monapsorn Saritapirak.

Three games was all that was required to see Lin Po-Hsuan progress beyond the Round of 32 (11-9, 11-5, 11-6), and it was a similar scenario for Chinese Taipei’s other competitor in the event Lin Chia-Hsuan.

Taking on Gul Pembe Ozkaya of Turkey, Lin Chia-Hsuan waltzed her way into the next stage as she claimed the opening three ends without facing much trouble (11-9, 11-5, 11-6).

Success for the Chinese Taipei players will now see Lin Po-Hsuan and Lin Chia-Hsuan go head-to-head against one another for a chance to reach the quarter-finals of the competition.

Japan will have three competitors in the last 16 of the event following wins for Kyoka Kato, Maki Shiomi and Saki Shibata.

Kyoka Kato and Maki Shiomi both prevailed over Belarusian opposition with respective victories against Darya Kisel (11-2, 11-6, 11-7) and Nastassia Volkava (11-3, 11-3, 11-5), while Saki Shibata came through her tie against Olga Vishniakova in four games (9-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-7).

No problems for Poland’s Artur Grela in the Under 21 Men’s Singles draw (Photo: Masha Kozhdan)

The main draw of the Under 21 Men’s Singles competition produced a number of positive results for Polish contestants, with three of the country’s players sealing their positions in the last 16.

Artur Grela may not have been able to reach the Men’s Singles main event but he was in fine form in his Under 21 competition match, seeing off Sweden’s Oscar Perman (11-8, 14-12, 11-6), and Grela is joined in the next round by fellow Polish representatives Patryk Zatowka and Marek Badowski.

All three of the matches involving Turkish players saw five games required to find a winner.

Batuhan Ulucak defeated the Czech Republic’s Jiri Martinko (12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7) to set up a tie with Tomas Polansky, while Ibrahim Gunduz came out on top against Masaki Takami of Japan (11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 7-11, 11-9) to book his spot in the Round of 16.

The only player to emerge successful against a Turkish competitor in the last 32 of the Under 21 Men’s Singles tournament was Russia’s Denis Ivonin, who beat Abdullah Yigenler in the deciding end (13-11, 8-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-3).

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