Hong Kong’s Minnie Soo Wai Yam dominated proceedings on the concluding day of play, Sunday 3^rd March 2013, at the Italian Junior and Cadet Open in the Adriatic resort of Lignano.

Currently listed at no.6 on the ITTF Under 15 Girls’ World Rankings and the top seed in Lignano, she captured the Cadet Girls’ Singles title and with compatriot, Mal Tze Wing, struck gold in the Cadet Girls’ Doubles competition.

In the latter stages of the Cadet Girls’ Singles event, she accounted for Austria’s Karoline Mischek, the no.3 seed (11-4, 11-4, 11-7) and Japan’s Kana Takeuchi, the no.4 seed (11-6, 11-4, 11-3) to book her place in the final, where she staved off a strong challenge from the latter’s compatriot, Yuko Kato, the no.2 seed (11-9, 7-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-3).

Impressed En Route to Final
Similarly, Yuko Kato had impressed on her path to the final; at the quarter-final stage she overcame the Slovak Republic’s Karolina Furkova (11-4, 11-9, 11-4), before ending the hopes of Germany’s Lilli Eise, the no.7 seed (8-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-6).

Cadet Girls Doubles
Success in the Cadet Girls’ Singles event; earlier in the day for Minnie Soo Wai Yam it had been Cadet Girls’ Doubles success.

Occupying the top seeded position in the draw, Mak Tze Wing and Minnie Soo Wai Yam accounted for Germany’s Julia Kaim and Luisa Sager, the no.3 seeds, in the semi-finals (4-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8), before securing the title at the final expense of Italy’s Cristiana Dumitrache and Veronica Mosconi, the no.4 seeds (11-4, 11-4, 5-11, 11-4).

At the semi-final stage, Cristiana Dumitrache and Veronica Mosconi had beaten the French pairing of Maeva Causse and Emilie Jaffeux, the no.4 seeds (11-6, 11-7, 11-7).

Poland and Czech Republic Secure Honours
Gold for Hong Kong in the Cadet Girls� Singles and Cadet Girls� Doubles event; in the counterpart Cadet Boys� Singles and Cadet Boys� Doubles competitions it was honours shared.

Poland in the guise of Tomasz Kotowski struck Cadet Boys� Singles gold with the Czech Republic pairing of Patrick Klos and Tomas Polansky emerging as Cadet Boys� Doubles champions.

Fourth Seed in Form
Occupying the fourth seeded position in the draw, Tomasz Kotowski overcame the host nation Luca Bressan, the no.8 seed, in the quarter-finals (11-9, 7-11, 11-6, 11-8), before accounting for Tomas Polansky, the top seed, at the penultimate stage (11-7, 11-8, 11-7).

A place in the final booked, he maintained his good form to end the hopes of Germany Nils Hohmeier, the no.5 seed (10-12, 11-8, 11-7, 11-7), who in the quarter-finals had beaten Poland Aleksander Werecki, the no.3 seed (9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 13-15, 11-2) and the unheralded Patrik Klos (7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-5).

Surprise Semi-Finalist
Patrik Klos was very much a surprise semi-finalist; not listed amongst the top eight names, he had beaten the Slovak Republic Andrej Kassay in the quarter-finals (7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-5), the player who one round earlier had caused one of the day biggest upsets.

In the second round of the Cadet Boys� Singles event, he had recovered from a two games to nil deficit to record a thrilling five games win over Argentina Horacio Cifuentes, the no.2 seed (6-11, 3-11, 13-11, 11-9, 12-10).

Doubles Success for Patrik Klos
Defeat in the penultimate round of the Cadet Boys� Singles event for Patrik Klos but success in the Cadet Boys� Doubles with Tomas Polansky.

The no.2 seeds, they beat the top seeded duo of Tomasz Kotowski and Aleksander Werecki in the final (12-10, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8), having in the penultimate round ended the aspirations of Germany Alexander Gerhold and Jannick Xu, the no.10 seeds (11-3, 11-5, 11-8).

In the counterpart semi-final, Tomasz Kotowski and Aleksander Werecki had accounted for the combination of Hungary Istvan Molnar and Israel Mathan Simon, the no.13 seeds (11-13, 8-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-5).

Gold for Italy
Meanwhile, in the Under 13 Boys� Singles event it was success for Italy Carlo Rossi with the counterpart Under 13 Girls� Singles title being secured by Poland Anna Wegrzyn.

In the final Carlo Rossi beat colleague Marco Bressan by the very narrowest of margins (6-11, 12-10, 11-3, 7-11, 11-9), having in the penultimate round defeated a further Italian in the guise of Gabriele Piciulin (11-7, 11-9, 11-8).

A reasonably comfortable semi-final success for Carlo Rossi but not for Marco Bressan; he overcame Austria Maciej Kolodziejczyk in four games but each game being decided by the minimum two point margin (9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 12-10).

Top Prize for Poland
Testing times for the boys but not quite so testing for Anna Wegrzyn.

She overcame Italy Marcella Delasa in the semi-finals (11-4, 11-2, 11-8), before securing the title at the expense of the Slovak Republic Nikoleta Puchovanova (8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-5); at the semi-final stage Nikoleta Puchovanova had beaten the Czech Republic Klara Sevikova in a close five games duel (9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 12-10).

Next Tournament
Play in Italy over, the next tournament on the ITTF Junior Circuit is the French Junior and Cadet Open; proceedings start in Metz on Wednesday 6th March and conclude on Sunday 10th March 2013.

Article by: ITTF - Ian Marshall

Photo by: Tony Leung