by Ian Marshall, Editor

Success but it was hard earned success, the semi-final contest against the Egypt ‘A’ formation of Mariam Abdelaziz, Rinad Fathy and Waad Ibrahim causing the champions elect nervous moments.

Elisavet Terpou emerged the star of the show; she gave her team the perfect start by beating Waad Ibrahim (10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5). Immediately, Ekaterina Zironova followed suit to double the advantage, she accounted for Mariam Abdelaziz (11-8, 11-4, 11-7). It was at that stage the Egyptian recovery began. Rinad Fathy overcame Martina Novakova in five games (11-6, 8-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5), before Waad Ibrahim levelled matters by accounting for Ekaterina Zironova (11-9, 11-4, 6-11, 11-9).

The outcome of the contest in the balance, Elisavet Terpou secured the victory, she beat Mariam Abdelaziz (11-5, 14-12, 11-4).

A place in the final reserved, a rather less dramatic success was the order of proceedings; a three matches to one verdict was the result against the Chinese trio formed by Zhou Bingru, Wang Yidan and Gong Yuhui.

Once again Elisavet Terpou remained unbeaten, she accounted for Wang Yidan in the second match of the engagement (5-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9); however, the backbone of the win was Ekaterina Zironova. She beat Zhou Bingru in the opening match of the title deciding contest (11-8, 11-4, 11-8), before bring matters to a conclusion in the fourth match by overcoming Wang Yidan (4-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-5).

Earlier in the counterpart semi-final, the Chinese trio had recorded a three-nil win in opposition to the Egypt ‘B’ Team comprising Shad Sameh, Sally Osama and Alaa Yehia.

Play in the Junior Girls’ Team event concluded, attention now turns to the individual competitions; proceedings conclude in Sharm El-Shiekh on Sunday 28th October.