by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager
He is the no.3 seed in the Junior Boys’ Singles event behind Sharon Alguetti of the United States and Poland’s Artur Grela; the tournament in Markham is an opportunity for the 18 year old to make his presence felt.
Furthermore, in the Junior Boys’ Team competition, alongside Terence Yeung, Jeremy Hazin is the top seed with Sharon Alguetti and Gal Alguetti the next in line.
Notably, it will be Jeremy Hazin’s fourth appearance on this year’s ITTF World Junior Circuit but he has yet to reach the latter stages, his best a third round farewell in the Czech Republic.
The situation is somewhat the same for Artur Grela but rather different for Sharon Alguetti. Artur Grela is also making his fourth appearance of the year, his most successful adventure being a quarter-final finish in Italy; as for Sharon Alguetti it is his first venture of the year but most pertinently, he has an ITTF World Junior Circuit to his credit. Last year he won in Serbia.
Arguably Sharon Alguetti starts as the favourite in the Junior Boys’ Singles event but could his biggest challenge emanate from Europe, from Hungary’s 15 year old Csaba Andras, the no.6 seed?
Last year he won the Cadet Boys’ Singles title at the Italian Junior and Cadet Open, whilst also finishing in fourth place at the ITTF Cadet Challenge in Fiji. Additionally, in 2017 he was a Junior Boys’ Singles semi-finalist on the ITTF World Junior Circuit in both France and Slovakia. Most pertinently, earlier this year he reached the semi-finals of the Junior Boys’ Singles event in Tunisia. In Markham he makes his fourth ITTF World Junior Circuit appearance of the year.
Listed ahead of Csaba Andras are Victor Liu of the United States and Chile’s Andres Martinez; Portugal’s Tiago Li and Canada’s Edward Ly complete the top eight names. In their one prior appearance on this year’s ITTF World Junior Circuit, Victor Liu reached round four in the Czech Republic, Andres Martinez the second round in Paraguay, Edward Ly the first round in Spain.
Meanwhile for Tiago Li, in three appearances, his best is the second round in Italy; Canada presents a chance to excel previous performances, the question is can someone take that chance?
