by Ian Marshall, Editor
Huang Yousheng emerged the winner of the Cadet Boys’ Singles event but he was tested.
In the final, he beat Chen Yuanyu in a full distance five games contest to claim the title (11-7, 11-4, 11-13, 9-11, 11-8), having earlier in the day in the later rounds accounted for Germany’s Mike Hollo at the quarter-final stage in what proved his most severe test. He prevailed by the very narrowest of margins (9-11, 11-8, 16-14, 7-11, 11-9), prior to reserving his place in the final courtesy of success in opposition to colleague Lin Shidong (12-10, 4-11, 11-9, 11-6).
“I wasn’t totally confident in the final. Leading two-nil I had two match points, also at two-one I led 7-3; however, I won the decisive game and was able to concentrate one hundred per cent. I am happy that I could win in such a hard competition, especially that I won against two of my compatriots.” Huang Yousheng
In the opposite half of the draw, in the round of the last eight, Chen Yuanyu had beaten Romania’s Ilulan Chirita, prior to reserving his place in the final courtesy of success in opposition to Li Yan-Jun (13-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7).
Success for China in the Cadet Boys’ Singles event as well as one day earlier in the Cadet Boys’ Team competition; however, there was to be no clean sweep of titles. Li Yan-Jun partnered Chinese Taipei colleague, Huang Yan-Chang, to Cadet Boys’ Doubles gold.
After having recorded a semi-final win against the French pairing of Mihane Lellouli and Felix Lebrun (11-8, 11-6, 6-11, 11-9), they overcame Romania’s Darius Movileanu and Andrei Tomica (12-14, 11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 11-4) to reserve the top step of the podium. In the opposite half of the draw, at the semi-final stage, Romania’s Darius Movileanu and Andrei Tomica had ousted the combination of Germany’s Tayler Fox and Frenchman Thibault Poret (12-10, 11-6, 11-8).
“We are very pleased with our victory because it was a strong competition. We thought that we would have to play against China. However, there were lots of turning points in the final, our hard work and persistence paid off. We kept going and it led to a gold.” Li Yan-Jun
Notably, Istvan Jonyer, the 1975 World champion made the presentations alongside Kalmar Attila made the presentations. Play concluded in Szombathely, the next tournament on the ITTF World Junior Circuit is the Portugal Junior and Cadet Open; proceedings start in Guimãres on Tuesday 27th November.
