England dominated proceedings on the second day of action, at the Malta Junior and Cadet Open in Cottonera. They won both the Junior Boys’ Team and Junior Girls’ Team events. The partnership of Sam WALKER and Helshan WEERASINGHE ruled supreme in the Jun,
England dominated proceedings on the second day of action, at the Malta Junior and Cadet Open in Cottonera. They won both the Junior Boys’ Team and Junior Girls’ Team events. The partnership of Sam WALKER and Helshan WEERASINGHE ruled supreme in the Junior Boys’ Team competition, whilst in the counterpart Junior Girls’ Team competition; there was no stopping the trio of HO Tin Tin, Maria TSAPTSINOST and Lois PEAKE. In both events the English teams occupied the top seeded position in the draw, in both events that status was thoroughly justified.
At the final hurdle of the Junior Boys’ Team event, England posted a three-one win over the Norwegian duo formed by Espen FLAGLIEN and Eskild JORGENSEN; the one contest to go astray being the doubles with Espen FLAGLIEN and Eskild JORGENSEN posting a straight games victory. However wins for Sam WALKER over FLAGLIEN and in opposition to Eskild JORGENSEN guided England to victory; the crucial win being that recorded by Helshan WEERASINGHE in the second match of the contest. He beat Eskild by the very narrowest of margins in a thrilling five games duel.
At the semi-final stage England had beaten the Slovak Republic duo of Adam BRAT and Tomas KAPONYI by three matches to nil, whilst Norway had overcome the Qatari pairing of Mohammed Al-HADDAD and Mohammed Al-SULAITI by the same comprehensive margin.
HO Tin Tin, Maria TSAPTSINOST and Lois PEAKE also succeeded in superb style.
One group of five teams with matters conducted on an all-play-all basis; the English girls concluded their schedule of fixtures with a three-nil win over the partnership of Czech Republic’s Veronika TUSLOVA and Denmark’s Sofie EGEHOLT followed by a similar success against the Swedish combination of Anette LUND and Hedda EGERLID.
The Swedes finished in third place, with the Polish duo of Katarzyna GALUS and Sara PYTEL being the runners up. They completed their series of contests with a three-nil win over the Malta partnership of Therese GENOVESE and Amy de GAETANO followed by a three-one success in opposition to Veronika TUSLOVA and Sofie EGEHOLT.
Winners of the Cadet Boys’ Team event at the Bahrain Junior and Cadet Open in early February, the Qatari duo of Abdulrahman Al-NAGGAR and Jassim Al-SANADI repeated the feat at the Malta Junior and Cadet Open. In Cottonera, the margin of victory was somewhat more comfortable; a three-one success was posted against Denmark with Jassim Al-SANADI, once again, the mainstay of success. He beat both Andreas DILLING and Anders LIND , whilst pairing with Abdulrahmam Al-NAGGAR to secure the doubles against Andreas DILLING and Nicolai de VOSS . The one win for Denmark came in the opening match of the fixture; Anders LIND overcame Abdulrahmam Al-NAGGAR in a full distance five games duel.
Both Qatar and Denmark were stretched the full five match distance in the penultimate round. The Greek duo of Andreas TSOPELAS and Nikolaos ANTONIDIAS gave Qatar a severe examination. Similarly, it was a hard fought semi-final win for Denmark against Belarus with Aliaksandr KHANIN the player to cause the problems. He beat both Andreas DILLING and Nicolai de VOSS.
