Hong Kong's LEE Ho Ching was the player to cause the biggest upset on the third day of action, Friday 2nd November, at the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour German Open in Bremen.

The 19 year old, having struggled in the opening round of the Women's Singles event to beat Japan's 16 year old Miyu MAEDA in a full distance seven games encounter (16-14, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 6-11, 10-12, 11-1); excelled all expectations in the second round.

She beat the host nation's WU Jiaduo, the no.2 seed, in six games (11-6, 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 8-11, 11-6).

It is the first time that LEE Ho Ching has progressed to the third round of a Women's Singles event on Tour. She first came to notice in 2005 at the ITTF World Cadet Challenge staged in the Dominican Republic. Only 12 years old at the time, playing in a competition for players under 15 years of age, she gained a silver medal in the Girls' Team event.

Currently, the 2012 ITTF World Cadet Challenge is being staged in the Western Pacific island of Guam. Hong Kong has three players on duty, HUNG Ka Tak in the boys' events, SOO Wai Yam and LEUNG Tsz Ching in the girls' competitions; all seeking to follow in the footsteps of LEE Ho Ching.

However, of the leading names in action in Bremen, WU Jiaduo was the only major casualty.

In the Women's Singles event, Spain's SHEN Yanfei, the top seed duly booked her place in the third round, as did Korea's DANG Yeseo, the third seed, alongside Viktoria PAVLOVICH of Belarus, the no.4 seed and recently crowned European champion.

Meanwhile, in the Men's Singles event, Germany's Timo BOLL and Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, the respective top two seeds, negotiated the opening two rounds without alarm, as did Chinese Taipei's CHUANG Chih-Yuan, the third seed and Singapore's GAO Ning, the fourth seed.

Success for the top seeds in the singles events but not in the doubles; the top seeds in both the Men's Doubles and Women's Doubles events experienced first round defeats.

Korea's KIM Minseok and SEO Hyundeok, the Men's Doubles top seeds, were beaten by Chinese Taipei's CHEN Chien-An and CHUANG Chih-Yuan (4-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-7); in the counterpart Women's Doubles competition, the latter's colleagues CHENG I-Ching and HUANG Yi-Hua suffered defeat against Hong Kong's DOO Hoi Kem and LI Ching Wan (11-5, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9).

Article By : Ian Marshall (ITTF)
Photos By : An Sung Ho