Surprise winners and expected winners; that was the scenario for Hong Kong as they clinched both the Cadet Boys’ Team and Cadet Girls’ Team titles at the SET 2015 Thailand Junior and Cadet Open in Bangkok on Thursday 14th May.

The surprise was the success of Lau Chun Kit, Tsang Tsz Tsun and Chan Yee Shun in the Cadet Boys’ Team event; they started matters as rank outsiders, the no.9 seeds.

Conversely the expectation was the victory secured by Wong Chin Yau, Lee Ka Yee and Ng Ka Man in the Cadet Girls’ Team competition; they occupied the top seeded position in the competition and thoroughly justified their top billing.

Success and the top step of the podium secured but both outfits experience testing times en route to gold.

At the semi-final stage of the Cadet Girls’ Team event, the Hong Kong trio was extended the full five match distance by India before overcoming Singapore ‘A’ by three matches to one at the final hurdle.

Star of the show was Lee Ka Yee; she remained unbeaten throughout the whole event.

Against India she beat both Varuni Jaiswal (11-1, 9-11, 11-4, 10-12, 11-3) and Archana Girish Kamath (9-11, 13-11, 12-14, 13-11, 11-8); whilst in opposition to Singapore, she accounted for Pearlyn Koh Kai Xin (11-6, 11-8, 11-6) and Zhang Wanling (11-5, 11-6, 11-6).

The one remaining win in each fixture for Hong Kong was recorded by Wong Chin Yau.

Facing India she beat Varuni Jaiswal in the decisive fifth match (12-10, 11-2, 11-9); in opposition to Singapore ‘A’, she accounted for Zhang Wanling in the opening match of the fixture (11-3, 11-7, 11-8).

In the penultimate round, success for India had come in the second and third matches of the engagement. Archana Girish Kamath accounted for Wong Chin  (11-4, 11-7, 11-3), before Srushti Haleangadi overcame Ng Ka Man (11-7, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7).

The one win for Singapore ‘A’ in the final was recorded by Eunice Lim. In the third match of the fixture she beat Ng Ka Man by the very narrowest of margins (4-11, 11-8, 11-7, 2-11, 13-11).

Hard fought wins en route to the final for Hong Kong, it had been the same for Singapore.

At the quarter-final stage, Singapore beat Thailand ‘C’ (Pornkanok Maung-Hwan, Natkamon Kamkorn, Charita Panicharoen) by three matches to one, before recording a three-two success against Chinese Taipei, the no.2 seeds (Yu Hsiu-Ting, Chen Ting-Ting, Huang Yu-Jie).

 “We are very surprised, we didn’t expect to win this tournament”, said Lee Ya Yee. “Today I felt mentally strong, I keep changing my serves and I won two important matches in the final.”

Meanwhile, in the Cadet Boys’ Team event the success gained by Hong Kong was achieved by travelling a much harder route. They won all three contests in the second stage of proceedings by three matches to two.

At the quarter-final stage they accounted for Thailand ‘A’ (Yanapong Panagitgun, Vachirawich Aranthanawong, Veerapat Puthikungasern) in a full distance duel before succeeding by the same margin against Singapore ‘A’ (Ben Kun Ting, Bradley Lye, Geral Yu), the no.2 seeds, to reserve their place in the final.

Tension packed duels, it was no different in the final; a three-two win was recorded against Chinese Taipei (Huang Hung-Chou, Li Hsin-Yang, Tung Kuan-I) the top seeds.

Man of the moment for Hong Kong was Tsang Tsz Tsun; on all three occasions he emerged successful in the vital concluding match of the fixture when matters were level at two games apiece.

Against Thailand ‘A’ he beat Vachirawich Aranthanawong (11-8, 11-7, 11-8), in opposition to Singapore he recovered from a two games to nil deficit to beat Beh Kun Ting in a cliffhanger (9-11, 2-11, 11-6, 11-7, 12-10), before in the final defeating Huang Hung-Chou (11-7, 9-11, 14-12, 8-11, 11-

 “We didn’t come here thinking we were going to win first place we just were hoping for a medal, so we are very happy to win”, said Tsang Tsz Tsun.

In the opposite half of the draw Chinese Taipei had beaten Korea (Choi Seokwon, Yang Yechan, Jeong Taehun) by three matches to nil at the semi-final stage to reserve their place in the final.

Team events concluded, the individual events commence on Friday 15th May. 

Article by: ITTF-Ian Marshall