China steals the show on epic final day in Bendigo!

The 2018 ITTF World Junior Table Tennis Championships very much belonged to China after the nation’s players dominated the final day in Bendigo Australia from start to finish.

 

Today’s individual prizes (Girls’ and Boys’ Singles Girls’ and Boys’ Doubles and Mixed Doubles) follow gold medals in Wednesday’s Teams events thus completing a clean sweep of trophies throughout the tournament.

 

A breath-taking battle between the top two seeds: the Girls’ Singles final more than lived up to its billing and undoubtedly provided the day’s most enthralling final.

 

SHI Xunyao (CHN) and QIAN Tianyi (CHN) both came into the contest off the back of convincing semi-final victories the former beating Yumeno SOMA (JPN) 4-0 and the latter dropping just one game to SU Pei-Ling (TPE). Once pitted against one another in the final neither player gave an inch in a match that went the full distance.

 

After surrendering a 1-0 lead to then trail 2-1 and 3-2 it had seemed as though QIAN would be ending the day empty-handed. However she managed to keep her cool when it mattered most clinching the final two games to come out ultimately on top after a rollercoaster ride of an encounter: 11-8 5-11 9-11 11-5 9-11 11-9 11-8.

 

If the Girls’ Singles contest went right to the wire the same could not be said for both Boys’ finals as XU Haidong (CHN) saw off Yukiya UDA (JPN) 4-1 to seal glory in the Boys’ Singles having partnered XIANG Peng earlier to the Boys’ Doubles title with a straight games victory over Maksim GREBNEV and Lev KATSMAN (RUS).

 

However that did not mean there was any less fiery intensity to these matches with each individual game decided by fine margins:

XU staved off the threat of a potential comeback when UDA took the third game by battling his way to win 13-11 11-4 8-11 11-9 11-8.

 

Meanwhile in the Doubles XU and XIANG came from behind within the first game to grasp a crucial early foothold in the match. Despite the best efforts of Russia’s dynamic duo GREBNEV and KATSMAN including an audacious yet perfectly executed ‘Behind The Back’ shot from the former China’s Boys never looked back and saw out the victory 11-9 11-8 11-3.

 

The star of the show in Wednesday’s Junior Girls’ Teams triumph just four days later SHI Xunyao (CHN) took centre-stage once more appearing in three finals on Sunday.

 

Her rock-solid partnership with HUANG Fanzhen made gold in the Girls’ Doubles all but a formality as they saw off Miyu NAGASAKI and Satsuki ODO (JPN) 3-1 in the semi-finals before defeating Miyuu KIHARA and Yumeno SOMA (JPN) in straight games: 11-7 11-8 11-6.

 

Just moments earlier SHI also tasted success in the Mixed Doubles alongside XU Yingbin sealing a 3-2 victory in an all-Chinese final against YU Heyi and QIAN Tianyi: 11-8 3-11 11-5 9-11 11-5.

 

Irvin BERTRAND and Leo DE NODREST (FRA) were impressive in overcoming Yukiya UDA and Shunsuke TOGAMI (JPN) to reach the Boys’ Doubles semi-finals before they were ultimately outfought and thought by GREBNEV and KATSMAN.

 

Can anyone break up the current dominance of China at next year’s ITTF World Junior Table Tennis Championships? The globe’s most promising upcoming talents will all be headed to Bangkok (THA) between 24 November and 1 December looking to give their budding careers lift-off for potential future greatness.

 

Next week it will be Table Tennis’ established stars to battle it out for the big end-of-year titles at the Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals. Make sure you don’t miss out on the action or the 2018 ITTF Star Awards by following on ITTF.com  tv.ITTF.com and ITTF social media: Facebook  Instagram  Twitter Weibo  Youtube.

Related News

Finlandia Open 2024 – U21 Titles Clinched by VAN DESSEL and Jeanne ROBBES

The first champions of the 2024 Finlandia Open table tennis tournament were crowned on Friday evening. In the U21 Men’s category, Mael VAN DESSEL of Luxembourg triumphed over Norway’s Alexander...

Read more

Moldova Hosts Successful Seminar on Training Young Table Tennis Talents

As part of the European Table Tennis Union’s (ETTU) National Association Assistance Program (NAAP), a practical-methodical seminar titled “The Process of Training Young Players – The Road to the Olympics”...

Read more

2025 Champions League Final 4 Saarbrücken: Book the tickets now

This year, 4,500 spectators in Saarlandhalle Saarbrücken contributed to the resounding success of the first-ever Champions League Final 4. The event returns next year, promising another thrilling experience for players...

Read more

33rd Finlandia Open – Everything You Need to Know

The traditional Finlandia Open returns this year, welcoming over 160 players from 27 countries to the enchanting home of Father Christmas. Hosted at the Kisakallio Sports Institute, just an hour’s...

Read more

Contact

About Us

Privacy Policy

Terms and Conditions

The European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) is the governing body of the sport of table tennis in Europe, and is the only authority recognized for this purpose by the International Table Tennis Federation. The ETTU deals with all matters relating to table tennis at a European level, including the development and promotion of the sport in the territories controlled by its 58 member associations, and the organization of continental table tennis competitions, including the European Championships.

Powered By

All Competitions

Senior Competitions

Club Competitions

Youth Competitions

More Competitions