by Simon Daish
The Junior Boys’ Doubles event hosted an unlikely line-up for the final with sixth seeds Lev Katsman and Maksim Grebnev going head-to-head with unseeded opponents Yang Xinyu and Yu Khinhang for the title.
Yang Xinyu and Yu Khinhang caused a major upset in the morning session of play, beating top seeds Cristian Pletea and Irvin Bertrand at the semi-finals stage and the Azerbaijan pairing made a decent start in the final as well by picking up the opening game in deuce. However, it was the Russian duo of Lev Katsman and Maksim Grebnev who came away smiling, securing three of the next four games (10-12, 11-9, 11-6, 2-11, 11-7) to lift the trophy.
Success for Russia in the Junior Boys’ Doubles contest and there was more for the country to celebrate in the Junior Girls’ Doubles competition as Anastasia Kolish and French partner Lucie Gauthier finished on the top step of the medals podium.
The mixed association duo didn’t actually get off to the best of starts, losing out to Azerbaijan’s Ning Jing and Chen Xingtai in the opening game by a three point margin but Anastasia Kolish and Lucie Gauther grew stronger as the tie progressed claiming three consecutive game wins to bring the match to a close in their favour (8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6).
Another gold medal awarded to a mixed association partnership came in the Cadet Boys’ Doubles event: representing Poland and Croatia respectively, Maciej Kubik and Ivor Ban lived up to expectations with the no.1 seeds accounting for the fourth seeded host nation team of Andrei Tomica and Darius Movileanu across four games (11-5, 4-11, 11-7, 11-6).
Prithika Pavade and Chloe Chomis pulled off an outstanding display in the Cadet Girls’ Doubles final, seeing off top seeds Elizabet Abraamian and Liubov Tentser of Russia (6-11, 14-12, 11-7, 11-5) to land another gold medal for France.
