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Winner of the Junior Boys’ Singles title at the recent New Caledonia Open in Noumea, Hong Kong’s Hung Ka Tak joins forces with colleagues Lam Siu Hang and Li Hon Ming to form the top seeded outfit in the Junior Boys’ Team event at the forthcoming Brazil Junior and Cadet Open in Rio de Janeiro.
Staged at the Centro de Educação Física Almirante Adalberto Nunes (CEFAN), a naval training centre, from Wednesday 11th to Sunday 15th September 2013, the Hong Kong trio starts as favourites for gold.
All three players have performed creditably on the ITTF Junior Circuit this year; a fact reflected in their positions on the Boys’ Standings. Prior to matters starting in Rio de Janeiro, Hung Ka Tak is list at no.4 with Lam Siu Hang at no.10 and Li Hon Ming at no.14.
Eyes on Host Nation
Eyes will very much focus on the visitors from Asia but even more eyes will focus on the second seeds, the host nation’s Hugo Calderano, Vitor Ishiy and Massao Kohatsu.
Certainly with Hugo Calderano having one month ago won the Men’s Singles title at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Brazil Open, he is very much the spearhead of the team; however, if there is a player in form it is Yang Heng-Wei, the winner of the Junior Boys’ Singles event at the recent Double Fish Canadian Junior Open.
He joins forces with colleague Sun Chia-Hung and Puerto Rico’s Brian Afanador to form the third seeded outfit.
Three Groups in First Stage
There are three groups in the first stage of the Junior Boys’ Team event.
Germany the Top Seeds
A strong challenge from Asia for honours in the Junior Boys’ Team event, there is also a formidable challenge from the same continent in the counterpart Junior Girls’ Team competition.
However, the strongest challenge comes from Europe, from Germany.
Led by Nina Mittelham, the recently crowned European Junior Girls’ champion, Germany forms the top seeded outfit with Chinese Taipei occupying the second spot.
Nina Mittelham is supported by Chantal Mantz and Wan Yuan; for Chinese Taipei the outfit is formed by Chiu Ssu-Hua, Huang Yu-Wen and Huang Yu-Chiao.
Initial Phase
Two groups form the first stage of the Junior Girls’ Team event.
Focus on Latin America
Asia and Europe to the fore, in the Cadet Boys’ Team competition, attention turns to Latin America.
Brazil ‘A’ with Vitor Santos and Gustavo Yokota on duty form the top seeded outfit with Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes and Francisco Sanchi being the second seeds;
Singapore ‘B’ represented by the duo who succeeded in New Caledonia, Ethan Poh Shao Feng and Lucas Tan, form the third seeded partnership.
First Phase
In the Cadet Boys’ Team competition there are three groups in the initial stage and as in the Junior Boys’ Team and Junior Girls’ Team competitions, the teams finishing in first and second places in each group advance to the main draw.
Chinese Taipei Heads List
Meanwhile, in the Cadet Girls’ Team event, with five teams entered, there is just one group, matters being organised on an all play all basis.
Chinese Taipei with Chen Ting-Ting and Lee En-Chi in action form the top seeded duo, the second seeded outfit is formed by Canada’s Jane Yam and Angela Guan of the United States.
Play Begins
Play starts at 9.00am on Wednesday 11th September with the first stage of the Junior Boys’ Team and Cadet Girls’ Team events.
Article by: ITTF - Ian Marshall
Photo By: Rémy Quinne
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