by Ian Marshall, Editor

It is for the teenager his second appearance of the year on the international scene, his one previous excursion being one month ago when he came within a whisker of causing a major first round men’s singles upset.

At the Seamaster 2019 ITTF Challenge Plus Portugal Open in Lisbon, safely through the qualification tournament, he extended Egypt’s Omar Assar, the no.8 seed, the full seven games distance, experiencing defeat by the minimal two point margin in the decider (12-10, 5-11, 2-11, 11-9, 12-10, 6-11, 12-10).

Near to success, for Russia’s Lev Katsman, the no.2 seed, it has been success; he emerged the junior boys’ singles winner at the Bahrain Junior and Cadet Open; furthermore, the young man, who at the end of this month marks his 18th birthday, does have liking for Italy, last year he reached the quarter-final stage.

Present on the ITTF World Junior Circuit earlier this year; it is the same for the ensuing names in the order of merit. Also from Russia, Maksim Grebnev is the no.3 seed in the boys’ singles event, followed by Germany’s Kay Stumper and the French duo of Dorian Zheng and Vincent Picard.

Notably, Maksim Grebnev reached the semi-final round in the Czech Republic, Kay Stumper was the runner up in Sweden, Dorian Zheng and Vincent Picard both semi-finalists in Bahrain. In addition Vincent Picard progressed to the quarter-final stage in the Czech Republic.

Both present in the Czech Republic but yet to make their presence felt, Serbia’s Dimitrije Levajac and Russia’s Olav Kosolosky complete the top eight names.

Impressively, the junior boys’ singles event has attracted no less than 115 entries.