China has made a clean sweep of the seven medals on offer at the Wisdom 2014 World Junior Table Tennis Championships which concluded today in Shanghai China. China’s YU Ziyang produced a master class performance in the boys singles final to defeat
China has made a clean sweep of the seven medals on offer at the Wisdom 2014 World Junior Table Tennis Championships which concluded today in Shanghai China.
China’s YU Ziyang produced a master class performance in the boys singles final to defeat the Youth Olympic Games silver medalist Yuto MURAMATSU (JPN) 11-9 11-9 11-7 11-9 to become the world champion.
YU Ziyang who has also had success on the GAC Group 2014 World Tour by winning two events was under huge pressure to win the gold for China due to it was the only medal that they did not win last year when JANG Woojin (KOR) won gold in Rabat Morocco.
After the match the 16 year old stated: “I did feel the pressure before the match and I did feel nervous; the problem is that if you are Chinese you are expected to win; if you lose then it’s big news. I’m pleased I won but I was expected to win so now it’s a great feeling of relief!”
In the girl’s singles event his compatriot WANG Manyu’s massive scream after becoming the girl’s junior world champion showed the world just how much the title meant to her. WANG defeated her teammate ZHU Chaohui 12-10 11-6 14-12 6-11 12-10 to win her first world championships crown.
After the emotional victory the 15 year old stated: “It’s the greatest day of my life. I am world champion! During the match I tried to keep control of my emotions I tried to keep calm; if I started yelling and screaming I’d lose concentration. Since last year when I lost in the semi-final I have played in many international tournaments so now I have much more experience.”
The Chinese pair of LYU Xiang & XUE Fei were made to work extremely hard to defeat the passionate Korean duo of CHO Seungmin & KIM Minhyeok 8-11 12-10 11-7 11-6 9-11 14-16 11-8 in the boy’s doubles final.
“When we were down in the seventh game we adopted the same approach as in the sixth play one point at a time and try your best” said XUE Fei who had clearly formed a very good understanding with LYU Xiang.
“He is very fast” stressed XU Fei. “I am much slower so we compliment each other. It is unbelievable that we are world champions!”
China’s gold rush continued in the girl’s doubles with CHEN Xingtong and LIU Gaoyang clinching gold.
The pair led by Youth Olympic Games champion LIU Gaoyang were too good for the 14 year old Japanese duo of Mima ITO & Miu HIRANO prevailing 5-11 12-10 11-6 10-12 11-5 11-7.
“Certainly it was a difficult match but I think our technical skills made the difference on the important points” said LIU Gaoyang. “We have played together before but we didn’t practice that much before this tournament. We are thrilled with this title as we both played below our level in the singles.”
WANG Chuqin & CHEN Xingtong (CHN) became the mixed doubles World Junior champions after beating their compatriots LYU Xiang & WANG Manyu (CHN) in the mixed doubles final.
WANG Chuqin stated after the match: “Gradually as the tournament progressed we adjusted to each other’s styles of play and had a good co-operation and we are ecstatic to be World Champions!”
These five gold medals won today at the Minghang Indoor stadium were a perfect finish for China after they won both the boy’s and girl’s teams event earlier in the week.
Kirill GERASSIMENKO (KAZ) & Tamolwan KHETKHUAN (THA) were awarded with the Swaythling Club International Fair Play award for playing their table tennis in a fun and positive fashion all championships.
The table tennis world now turns to Bangkok Thailand where the US$1 000 000 GAC Group 2014 World Tour Grand Finals will take place.
