by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
She emerged successful at the Road to Buenos Aires Series – Europe tournament staged in Hodonin, Czech Republic, somewhat upsetting the odds to secure first place.
The no.7 seed, at the final hurdle she accounted for India’s Archana Girish Kamath, the no.4 seed (11-7, 5-11, 11-13, 11-3, 12-10, 11-6) to reserve her place in the South American city.
Earlier, she had accounted for Montenegro’s Ivana Petric (11-6, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8), Singapore’s Goi Rui Xuan (9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 5-11, 12-10, 11-7) and Croatia’s Andrea Pavlovic, the no.2 seed (12-10, 5-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6, 11-6) to reserve her place in the penultimate round where the good form was maintained.
She accounted for Germany’s Franziska Shreiner, the no.6 seed (9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 14-12, 11-5) who likewise had impressed in the early rounds. Notably at the quarter-final stage she had beaten the host nation’s Zdena Blaskova, the no.3 seed (11-6, 12-10, 11-7, 11-4).
Meanwhile, in the opposite half of the draw, like Lee Ka Yee, Archana Girish Kamath had upset the seeding.
After accounting for Korea’s Kim Yealin, the no.25 seed (11-13, 11-8, 11-3, 11-5, 11-7) and Turkey’s Ozge Yilmaz, the no.22 seed (10-12, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9), she caused a major surprise at the semi-final stage by beating Serbia’s Sabina Surjan, the top seed (15-13, 11-9, 11-2, 11-6).
Success for Lee Ka Yee who now has quite a prodigious task ahead if she is to match the efforts of her predecessors; Ng Ka Kee finished in ninth place in the Women’s Singles and with Chiu Chung Hei in the Team event.
Even more impressively Doo Hoi Kem was the Women’s Singles silver medallist in Nanjing and in partnership with Hung Ka Tak, Team bronze medal winner.
Continental Tournaments – Qualifiers (as on Sunday 17th December)
Men
Africa: Youssef Abdel Aziz (Egypt), Nathael Hamdoun (Tunisia)
Asia: Tomokazu Harimoto (Japan), Lin Yun-Ju (Chinese Taipei), Wang Chuqin (China), Cho Daeseong (Korea)
Europe: Ioannis Sgouropoulos (Greece), Vladimir Sidorenko (Russia), Medardas Stankievicius (Lithuania), Vladislav Urdu (Moldova)
Latin America: Nicolas Burgos (Chile), Guillerme Teodoro (Brazil)
North America: Kanak Jha (United States)
Oceania: Nathan Xu (New Zealand)
Women
Africa: Esther Oribamise (Nigeria), Marwa Alhodaby (Egypt)
Asia: Miu Hirano (Japan), Su Pei-Ling (China), Jinnipa Sawettabut (Thailand), Su Pei-Ling (Chinese Taipei)
Europe: Lucie Gauthier (France), Mariia Tailakova (Russia), Ning Jing (Azerbaijan), Nadezhda Bogdanova (Belarus)
Latin America: Adriana Diaz (Puerto Rico), Bruna Takahashi (Brazil)
North America: Amy Wang (United States)
Oceania: Vong Hui Ling (New Zealand)
Road to Buenos Series (as on Tuesday 13th February)
Men
Europe: Bastian Rembert (France), Cristian Pletea (Romania
Women
Europe: Andreea Dragoman (Romania), Lee Ka Yee (Hong Kong)
