by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

Qian Tianyi is making her fourth appearance of the year on the ITTF World Junior Circuit; notably she was present in Oman in the first tournament of the year but did play in the Junior Girls’ Singles event, only in the Team competition.

One month later in March she was present in Italy where she emerged successful, before more recently being the runner up in Thailand, losing to Huang Fanzhen. Somewhat similarly, Shi Xunyao, crowned Girls’ Singles winner at the 2016 World Junior Championships in Cape Town, won in the Czech Republic, before experiencing a semi-final exit in France.

The overall outcome is that on the ITTF World Junior Circuit Standings, Qian Tianyi is in third place (2,480 points), Shi Xunyao once place lower (2,160 points); not present in Wladyslawowo, Huang Fanzhen tops the lists (3,500 points) with Zhang Binyue (2,700 points) immediately below, as China commands the top four places.

Next in line to the Chinese duo in Poland is Chinese Taipei’s Chen Ting-Ting followed by Romania’s Andreea Dragoman, Russia’s Anastasia Kolish and the Czech Republic’s Zdena Blaskova.

However no member of the quartet has enjoyed results on this year’s ITTF World Junior Circuit that match the Chinese duo. The best for Chen Ting-Ting is a quarter-final finish in both France and in the Thailand; it is the similar for Zdena Blaskova. She reached the round of the last eight in Belgium.

Meanwhile for Andreea Dragoman and Anastasia Kolish it is the third round. Each reached that stage in the Czech Republic; in addition, it was the round to which Andreea Dragoman progressed in both Italy and France.

It is a similar situation for Maharyta Baltushite of Belarus, the no.7 seed; likewise she departed in the third round in the Czech Republic and in Italy. More notably, Lucie Gauthier of France, who completes the top eight names in Poland, was a semi-finalist in Belgium.

Play commences with the individual events; the team events begins on Friday 25th May.