Displaying a determined attitude and a strong nerve; Ng Wing Nam won the Under 21 Women’s Singles title at the ITTF 2013 Spanish Open in Almeria on Saturday 19^th January to add to her ever growing list of successes.

However, to clinch gold, seeded no.2, she had to recover from the very precipice of defeat to secure the top prize.

The player to cause the problems was Russia’s Yana Noskova, the no.3 seed; she was clearly in form.

At the semi-final stage she had beaten Ng Wing Nam’s colleague, Lee Ho Ching, the no.1 seed in seven games (11-9, 11-5, 6-11, 6-11, 10-12, 12-10, 11-4), having at the quarter-final stage ousted Germany’s Kathrin Mulbach, the no.6 seed (11-8, 4-11, 14-12, 15-13, 11-9).

Against Ng Wing Nam she won the first three games and appeared to be en route to a quite stunning victory.

However, Ng Wing Nam had other ideas; she recovered, won the next four games and kept her nerve to secure victory by the very narrowest of margins in the decisive seventh game (6-11, 8-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-4, 12-10).

En route to the final, Ng Wing Nam had been in blistering form.

At the quarter-final stage, she had beaten Germany’s Nina Mittelham, the no.7 seed, in four straight games (11-6, 11-6, 11-6, 11-5), before in the penultimate round, accounting for Brazil’s Caroline Kumahara, the no.5 seed, in a similar fashion (11-8, 12-10, 11-5, 11-6).

Meanwhile, in the Women’s Singles event both Jiang Huajun and Lee Ho Ching progressed comfortably to the semi-final stage.

On the third day of play in Almeria, Jiang Huajun, the no.2 seed, accounted for Italian qualifier Deborah Vivarelli (9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-4, 11-5) before securing victory in the all Hong Kong duel by beating Ng Wing Nam, also in five games (11-5, 11-2, 11-6, 5-11, 11-5).

An impressive display by Jiang Huajun and it was the same from Lee Ho Ching, the no.4 seed.

She recorded a second round win over Germany’s Kathrin Mulbach in four straight games (11-4, 11-2, 11-7, 11-7), before succeeding by a similar margin at the quarter-final stage against the Czech Republic’s Dana Cechova (12-10, 11-7, 11-6, 11-1).

It is the first time that Lee Ho Ching has reached the semi-final stage of a Women’s Singles event on the ITTF World Tour and underlines recent progress; in November 2012 she progressed to the quarter-finals of the Women’s Singles event on the GAC GROUP World Tour in both Germany and Poland.

At the semi-final stage, Lee Ho Ching faces top seed, Spain’s Shen Yanfei; Jiang Huajun confronts Sweden’s Matilda Ekholm, the no.3 seed.

Success for the ladies but for Wong Chung-Ting, it was disappointment; seeded no.9, he was beaten by 17 year old French teenager, Alexandre Robinot, in the second round of the Men’s Singles event (10-12, 12-10, 7-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-9).

Earlier Alexandre Robinot had caused the upset of the tournament by ousting Belgium’s Jean-Michel Saive in the opening round (11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 14-12, 10-12, 11-8); his exploits came to an end when beaten in the quarter-finals by compatriot, Christophe Legout.

The 39 year old Frenchmen used his experience to full avail to record a six games victory (11-4, 11-9, 4-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-8).