by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager
In both the Czech Republic and in France she reached the quarter-final round; in Tunisia, she was a semi-finalist, in Belgium the runner up. In Platja d’Aro can she reach the top step of the podium?
Ahead of Lucie Gauthier in the order of merit is Amy Wang of the United States and Zdena Blaskova; notably Amy Wang won the Women’s Singles event at the North American Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games qualification tournament staged last December in Las Vegas but as yet to excel on this year’s ITTF World Junior Circuit. The best to date is a quarter-final finish in the Czech Republic.
Likewise for Zdena Blaskova, her best ITTF World Junior Circuit performance of the year was in the Czech Republic, she reached the third round.
Completing the top four names is Germany’s Franziska Schreiner; she is followed by Italy’s Jamila Laurenti, Portugal’s Raquel Martins, the Czech Republic’s Gabriela Stepanova and India’s Prithika Pavade.
Impressively, Prithika Pavade was a semi-finalist in Sweden, whilst Jamila Laurenti emerged successful in Paraguay at the Road to Buenos Aires 2018 – Latin American qualification tournament. Immediately preceding, she had reached the semi-final round in Asuncion in at the ITTF World Junior Circuit tournament.
Both are performances which Raquel Martins and Gabriela Stepanova have yet to match. The best for Raquel Martins is a quarter-final finish in Italy, for Gabriela Stepanova the third round on home soil in Hodonin.
The individual events commence play; the finals will be played on Thursday 10th May.
