by Ian Marshall, Editor

The names Kaho Akae and Haruna Ojio, both 14 years old, appear on the entry list. Last year Haruna Ojio was a junior girls’ singles semi-finalist in Hong Kong and China, as well as being the cadet girls’ singles runner up in Hungary.

Impressive but Kaho Akae, who last year reached the junior girls’ singles semi-final round in Belgium, is this year the in-form player. In Sweden she won both the junior girls’ singles and cadet girls’ singles titles, having one week earlier in the Czech Republic reached the semi-final stage in the former, whilst winning the latter.

In Metz, Kaho Akae and Haruna Ojio occupy the respective fifth and sixth seeded positions in the junior girls’ singles competition; in the cadet girls’ singles event, Kaho Akae is the second seed behind Romania’s Elena Zaharia, the winner at last year’s European Youth Championships. Haruna Ojio is the no.4 seed being next in line to Croatia’s Hana Arapovic, a semi-finalist in February in the Czech Republic.

Names to note but for local eyes the player in focus will be Prithika Pavade; like Kaho Akae and Haruna Ojio, only 14 years old, she is the fourth seed in the junior girls’ singles event, the seventh seed in the cadet girls’ singles competition. Notably this year she was the junior girls’ singles runner up in both the Czech Republic and Spain.

Ahead of Prithika Pavade on the junior girls’ singles list are the Czech Republic’s Zdena Blaskova and Italy’s Jamila Laurenti; notably this year Zdena Blaskova was a bronze medallist in the Czech Republic.

Play commences with the junior girls’ singles and junior girls’ doubles events.