by Ian Marshall, Editor

A first appearance of the year on the ITTF World Junior Circuit, safely through to the quarter-final stage of proceedings, the no.2 seed, he captured the top prize at the final expense of Iran’s Radin Khayyam, the no.5 seed (5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4), having earlier in the day experienced a most exacting examination.

In his opening encounter, he was stretched the full five games distance by Iran’s Mobin Alipourghalehjough (7-11, 13-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8), a player new to the international scene and with no current world ranking. Hard fought success but the end result a semi-final place; rather less testing he beat colleague Wang Guan-Ru, also a player with no global standing, in three straight games (11-6, 11-8, 11-8) to reserve his place in the title decider.

Testing times for Li Hsin-Yu; at the quarter-final stage, Radin Khayyam also experienced some concerns, he needed four games to beat India’s Dev Shroff, the no.6 seed (11-9, 8-11, 11-6, 11-7), prior to overcoming colleague Mohammadjavad Sohrabi in three straight games to reserve his place in the final (11-6, 11-9, 11-4). Similar to Mobin Alipourghalehjough, Mohammadjavad Sohrabi is new to the international scene.

Defeat for Dev Shroff at the hands of Li Hsin-Yu but there was a degree of consolation; partnering colleague Deepit Patil, the duo secured the Cadet Boys’ Doubles title. In the final they beat Li Hsin-Yu and Wang Guan-Ru by the very narrowest of decisions (9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 13-11).

Silver for Iran in the Cadet Boys’ Singles event; in the Hopes Boys’ Singles category it was gold; Navid Shams, the top seed, secured the title, in the final he beat India’d Rajveer Vishal Shah (5-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-5).

Individual events concluded; attention now turns to the team competitions. Play concludes on Sunday 29th July.