by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager
The success recorded by Yanapong Panagitgun was no great surprise, the win secured by Goi Rui Xuan was not necessarily to be expected.
Yanapong Panagitgun commenced matters as the top seed. In his opening encounter he beat Mexico’s Guillermo Casio, the no.10 seed (11-8, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8), before accounting for Kazakhstan’s Aidos Lenzhigulov, the no.7 seed (11-13, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7, 12-10, 11-9) and Hong Kong’s Maurice Kai Ning Ching, the no.8 seed (11-9, 11-7, 11-7, 13-11) to reserve his place in the final.
Good form; that good form continued; he overcame Panama’s Jacobo Vahnish (11-8, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9) to add his name to the Buenos Aires invitation list. Undoubtedly the appearance of Jacobo Vahnish in the final was somewhat of a surprise. The no.6 seed, at the quarter-final stage he had beaten Canada’s Jeremy Hazin, the no.2 seed (11-9, 3-11, 11-9, 3-11, 12-10, 11-4), prior to accounting for Peru’s Rodrigo Hidalgo, the no.4 seed (16-14, 3-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-9, 11-6) in the penultimate round.
Notably Austria’s Maciej Kolodziejczyk, the no.3 seed, had departed proceedings in round three, beaten by Singapore’s Dominic Song Jin Koh (9-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4) who, in turn, had experienced a quarter-final defeat when facing Maurice Kai Ning (12-14, 18-16, 5-11, 11-5, 11-5, 9-11, 11-5).
Success for Yanapong Panagitgun as status advised, it was somewhat different for Goi Rui Xuan. She caused upset after upset.
In her opening encounter, she beat Ecuador’s Nathaly Paredes, the no.3 seed (5-11, 11-2, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 11-4) prior to accounting for Kazakhstan’s Zauresh Akasheva, the top seed (11-8, 11-8, 11-8, 12-10 and Paraguay’s Leyla Gomez, the no.4 seed (11-6, 12-10, 11-5, 11-7) to reserve her Buenos Aires passport.
Significantly, Leyla Gomez was very much a player in form, at the semi-final stage she had beaten Guatemala’s Lucia Cordero, the no.2 seed (11-5, 11-5, 12-10, 7-11, 12-10).
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), Sun Yingsha (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 Sunday 15th April)
Men
Europe: Bastian Rembert (France), Cristian Pletea (Romania)
Africa: Yu Khinhang (Azerbaijan), Amin Ahmadian (Iran)
Latin America: Matteo Mutti (Italy), Yanapong Panagitgun (Thailand)
Women
Europe: Andreea Dragoman (Romania), Lee Ka Yee (Hong Kong)
Africa: Tatiana Kukulkova (Slovakia), Sabina Surjan (Serbia)
Latin America: Jamila Laurenti (Italy), Goi Rui Xuan (Singapore)
