by Ian Marshall, Editor
Once again, as last year in Riva del Garda, Japan and China proved themselves ahead of the field; the one player to pose problems being Mariia Tailakova. In the opening match of the contest against Russia, she extended Miyu Nagasaki, the full five games distance, only experiencing defeat by the minimal two point margin in the decider (11-6, 2-11, 11-9, 12-14, 14-12).
Nerves settled, rather more comfortably Yumeno Soma beat Anastasia Kolish (13-11, 11-3, 11-5), before Satsuki Odo concluded matters by defeating Kristina Kazantseva (11-5, 11-3, 9-11, 11-2).
A testing opening contest for Japan; for China it was somewhat different. Shi Xunyao gave her team the ideal start, she beat Choi Haeeun (11-3, 11-8, 11-6), Qian Tianyi followed suit by overcoming Shin Yubin (6-11, 11-1, 11-9, 11-2), to set the scene for Huang Fanzhen to conclude matters. She duly obliged, she overcame Ryu Hanna in three straight games (14-12, 11-7, 11-5).
Meanwhile, playing very much for pride, Chinese Taipei, the no.2 seeds, finished in fifth place ahead of Romania, Hong Kong and the United States; Romania commenced play as the no.7 seeds, Hong Kong, the no.3 seeds and the United States in the position where they started, the no.8 seeds.
Selecting Tsai Yu-Chin, Su Pei-Ling and Chen Ting-Ting; Chinese Taipei accounted for the United States trio of Amy Wang, Crystal Wang and Rachel Sung by three matches to nil, before with Wen Rui-Ling replacing Tsai Yu-Chin, the same result was posted against Romania who selected Tania Plaian, Andreea Dragoman and Elena Zaharia.
Earlier, with no change to the selection, Romania had recorded a three-nil win against Hong Kong’s Wong Chin Yau, Lee Ka Yee and Chau Wing Tze; preferring Ng Wing Lam to Chau Wing Sze, Hong Kong concluded their exploits by securing a three-one success against the United States, Crystal Wang replaced Amy Wang in the line-up that had lost to Chinese Taipei.
Meanwhile, lower down the order India finished in ninth place, followed by Serbia, France, Brazil, Belarus, New Zealand, Canada and Australia.
