Hong Kong’s Ho Kwan Kit and Doo Hoi Kem, the top seeds, safely negotiated the opening two round of the Mixed Doubles event at the Wisdom 2014 World Junior Championships in the Chinese city of Shanghai on Wednesday 3^rd December.

They overcame the Russian pairing of Konstantin Chernov and Doo Hoi Kem (11-4, 13-11, 11-6), before accounting for the Polish partnership formed by Patryk Zatowka and Natalia Bajor (9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-4).

Similarly, the second seeded Chinese pairing of Yu Ziyang and He Zhuojia enjoyed success in the opening two rounds.

Impressive Performance

Impressively they accounted for Egypt’s Aly Ghallab and Alaa Saad in the opening round 11-6, 11-6, 11-4), before overcoming the combination of Denmark’s Claus Nielsen and Germany’s Chantal Mantz. The Chinese duo succeeded in three straight games but they did experience some problems.

In the opening game, they trailed 8-10, before winning four points in a row to secure the game.

“I felt we were the stronger partnership”, said Yu Ziyang. “It was a case of making sure we were focused.”

Third Seeds Fall

Success for Yu Ziyang and He Zhuojia as anticipated, no great surprise; however, there were two surprises of note.

olleagues Liang Jingkun and Chen Ke, the third seeds, suffered defeat at the hands of Korea’s Cho Seungmin and Kim Jiho (11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8); whilst also departing earlier that status predicted, Japan’s Yuma Tsuboi and Hitomi Sato, the seventh seeds, bid farewell.

They were beaten by the French partnership of Can Akkuzu and Audrey Zarif (8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-8).

Progress

However, the remaining leading pairings, there were no such problems negotiating the second round hurdle.

China Lyu Xiang and Ekaterina Guseva, the fourth seeds, accounted for the combination of Croatia’s Filip Zeljko and Russia’s Ekaterinsa Guseva (11-8, 11-7, 11-3).

Similarly Japan’s Asuka Sakai and Miyu Maeda enjoyed second round success; they ended the hopes of Alexandre Cason and Marie Migot of France (11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 11-9).

Success for the fifth seeds, there was also success for the sixth seeds, China’s Xue Fei and Liu Gaoyang halted the hopes of Singapore’s Yin Jing Yuan and Kim Vermaas of the Netherlands (11-7, 11-6, 11-5).

Close Call

Meanwhile, not to be outdone, Liu Dingshuo and Zhu Chiohui, also from China and the eight seeds, emerged successful in their second round Mixed Doubles encounter but it was close, very close.

They were extended the full five games distance by Park Ganghyeon and Lee Zion Hugo (11-8, 11-4, 7-11, 11-13, 12-10).

One Partnership

Success for China, it was success for Asia and Europe; only one partnership from outside the two traditional strongholds of table tennis survived the second round

Brazil’s Calderano and Bruna Takahashi become duly booked their place in the third round of the Mixed Doubles event. After beating the defensive pairing of Poland’s Jakub Fowlarski and Alina Nikitchanka of Belarus (11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 11-4), they accounted for the French partnership of Romain Ruiz and Pauline Chasselin of (11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8) to book their place in round of the last 16 pairs.

Adapted

“In the third game the French pair adapted better to the way we were playing”, said Hugo Calderano. “They made several changes, most notably they played with more spin but I felt that we were playing well, we kept fighting and in the fourth game we adjusted.”

A pleased Hugo Calderano, it was the same from Bruna Takahashi.

“It was hard receiving from Roman Ruiz”, she said. “He was very powerful and it was difficult receiving his services.”

Nevertheless she coped, Liu Dingshuo and Zhu Chiohui await in round three.

Article by: ITTF - Ian Marshall
Photo By: Rémy Gros