by Ian Marshall, Editor
At the final hurdle Marwan Abdelwahab beat Mohamed Azzam (9-11, 11-7, 12-10, 9-11, 11-2, 11-8); Tsai Yu-Chin accounted for Russia’s Ekaterina Zironva (11-3, 11-9, 11-3, 11-8), the defending champion.
Earlier at the semi-final stage, in all Egyptian semi-finals Marwan Abdelwahab had beaten Marwan Gamal (11-6, 9-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-6), Mohamed Azzam had accounted for Ahmed Elborhamy (8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7, 12-10).
Three titles
Success for Marwan Abdelwahab meant that he departed Sharm El-Sheikh with three titles. On the second day of play he had been a member of the successful Egyptian outfit in the junior boys’ team event; on the concluding day he added the junior boys’ doubles title. Partnering Ahmed Elborhamy, the pair accounted for colleagues Abderahman Dendan and Gawad Elherazy (14-12, 11-7, 4-11, 11-7) to claim the top prize
Meanwhile, in the later rounds Tsai Yu-Chin had overcome Egypt’s Hana Goda (11-3, 11-9, 11-3, 11-8), Ekaterina Zironova had ended the hopes of Chen Ying-Ying, like Tsai Yu-Chin from Chinese Taipei (11-2, 11-7, 11-3, 11-9). Furthermore, on the last day of play there were two titles for Tsai Yu-Chin; she partnered compatriot Chang Ying-Ying to gain junior girls’ doubles success; in the final they beat Ekaterina Zironova and Yen Shih-Huan, also from Chinese Taipei (8-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-7).
Gold for Saudi Arabia
Success for the host nation in the junior boys’ singles competition, in the cadet boys’ singles, despite providing three of the four semi-finalists it was gold for Saudi Arabia. Khalid Alshareif emerged the winner. He accounted for Habib Ameur in the penultimate round (12-10, 6-11, 11-9, 11-5) and Amr Mahfouz in the final (10-12, 11-8, 7-11, 12-10, 11-6). In the counterpart semi-final, Amr Mahfouz had doused the aspirations of Marwan Gamal (11-9, 11-8, 11-5).
The top prize for Saudi Arabia, in the cadet boys’ doubles event that privilege belonged to the Czech Republic; Daniel Kostal and Matyas Lebeda secured the title at the final expense of England’s Naphong Boonyaprapa and Georgis Gerakios (10-12, 11-3, 11-5, 11-4).
Hana Goda
Egypt dominant, providing all four semi-finalists, after accounting for colleague Jana Saad (11-5, 11-7, 11-8), Hana Goda beat Farida Badawy (11-4, 11-1, 11-2) to secure the cadet girls’ singles title (11-4, 11-1, 11-2), having earlier in the afternoon partnered Algeria’s Melissa Belache to cadet girls’ doubles success. At the final hurdle, the pair prevailed against the combination of Lebanon’s Talia Azar and Tunisia’s Maran Zoghlami (11-5, 11-5, 12-10).
Success for Egypt, it was the same in the mini-cadet boys’ and mini-cadet girls’ singles; in the final of the former Badr Mostafa beat Aly Elsaraty (11-6, 11-7, 10-12, 11-7), in the latter Hana Abdelsalam accounted for Kanzy Fawzy (9-11, 11-4, 9-11, 12-10, 12-10).
Play concluded in Sharm El-Sheikh; attention on the ITTF World Junior Circuit now turns to Muscat, the 2019 Oman Junior and Cadet Open commences on Thursday 24th October.
