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Winner of the Junior Boys’ Singles title at the recently completed New Caledonia Junior and Cadet Open in Noumea; Hong Kong’s Hung Ka Tak joins forces with Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tai-Wei to form the top seeded partnership at the Double Fish Canadian Junior and Cadet Open.
Proceedings start in North Vancouver on Thursday 29th August and conclude on Sunday 1st September 2013.
Wang Tai-Wei, like Hung Ka Tak, is a familiar face on the ITTF Junior Circuit and he has enjoyed success; in the very first tournament of the year, the Bahrain Junior and Cadet Open in Manama, he was the Junior Boys’ Singles silver medallist.
Strong Chinese Taipei Challenge
Once again, as throughout the year on the ITTF Junior Circuit, there is a strong challenge for honours from Chinese Taipei.
Sun Chia-Hung and Yang Heng-Wei occupy the second seeded position. Both have impressed on the ITTF Junior Circuit in 2013. Yang Heng-Wei won the Junior Boys’ Singles title in Egypt beating Sun Chia-Hung in the final.
North American Champion on Duty
Next on the list in the Junior Boys’ Team event is Canada ‘A’ with Chen Hongtao and James Pintea in action; most certainly Chen Hongtao is a player in form.
Two days prior to the commencement of the Double Fish Canadian Junior and Cadet Open, he won the Junior Boys’ Singles title at the ITTF-North American Championships and was the Men’s Singles runner up.
Completing Top Four
Completing the top four seeds, there are four groups in the first stage of proceedings, is the partnership of Puerto Rico’s Brian Afanador and Martin Khatchanov.
They have yet to assert their names on the ITTF Junior Circuit this year but in June, Brian Afanador won the Junior Boys’ Singles title at the Latin American Junior and Cadet Championships in Lima and Martin Khatchanov progressed to the second round in Egypt where he was stopped by Sun Chia-Hung.
Golden Girls in Egypt Top Seeding
Success in Egypt and there was also success in Egypt for Japan's Yurika Taira and Seira Ushijuma, the top seeds in the Junior Girls' Team event in North Vancouver. In Ismailia, alongside Mayuka Taira, they won the Junior Girls' Team title.
However, if they are to repeat the success, they will have to repeat the Ismailia form; the second and third seeds both present formidable opposition being led by notable names.
Notable Names
Romania's Bernadette Szocs, twice European Junior Girls' Singles champion, joins forces with Norway's Sara Berner and Charlotte Carey of Wales to form the second seeded team.
Ariel Hsing, the winner of both the Women's Singles and Junior Girls' Singles titles at the ITTF-North American Championships on Tuesday 27th August, links with Tina Lin in the third seeded United States outfit.
Furthermore, at the ITTF-North American Championships, Tina Lin enjoyed success; she won the Cadet Girls' Singles crown.
There are three groups in the first stage of the Junior Girls' Team event.
Singapore Heads List
Meanwhile, in the Cadet Boys' Team competition, Singapore leads the way; they field the outfits that gained gold and silver in New Caledonia.
Darren Loy Meng Hean and Tay Ming Han Maxxe form Singapore 'A' and occupy the top seeded position in the competition; Ethan Poh Shao Feng and Lucas Tan comprise Singapore 'B' and are the second seeds. Michael Luo and Akexander Moran of Canada 'B' form the third seeded partnership.
Same Scenario
Three groups in the first stage of the Cadet Boys' Team event; it is the same scenario in the initial phase of the Cadet Girls' Team competition.
The United States trio of Angela Guan, Grace Young and Lucy Ma forms the top seeded outfit; Puerto Rico's Adriana Diaz and Lineris Rivera are the second seeds with Canada 'A' represented by Cherry Zheng and Lu Jiabao being the third seeds.
Teams finishing in first and second places in each group advance to the main draw.
Article by: ITTF - Ian Marshall
Photo by: Courtesy of Thailand TTA
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