Singapore Players Win Junior Table Tennis Titles

A couple of potential new stars emerged from the 2012 New Zealand Table Tennis Junior Open, ITTF Global Junior Circuit event played in Auckland over the weekend.

In an exciting junior men’s final Clarence Chew from Singapore had to pull out all stops to defeat his Thai opponent, Max Poungsri as the final went the full distance of seven games, with the Thai player retrieving seemingly impossible shots to keep the rallies going.

Chew is ranked inside the world’s top 50 juniors and has the potential to become a good professional in one of the hotbeds of the sport in Asia. The 16-year-old didn’t drop a match in either the teams or individual event and now looks a good chance of making the world junior men’s circuit final event later in the year.

The best of the Kiwi junior men was Roger Rao and Kevin Wu who both made the singles semis losing to Chew and Poungsri respectively.

The junior women’s final was a easy victory for Singapore’s Isabelle Siyun Li who dominated her final with a straight game victory over Yee Lok Lam from Hong Kong. Together they combined to win the junior women’s doubles in straight games over Australia’s Eliza Forster and Samantha Ong(Malaysia).

A Kiwi player won the Cadet singles final as Sophia Dong, 14 from Auckland easily despatched New Caledonia’s Lea Lai Van in straight games. Dong also teamed with another Aucklander Ruofei Rao to win the Cadet girls doubles over an Hong Kong and Malaysian pair in straight games.

The New Zealand team of Daniel Lowe and Tom Nguyen made the junior men’s doubles final but were defeated in four games by the Australian combination of Dillon Cathcart and Nathan Van Der Heiden.

Final results - 2012 New Zealand Table Tennis Junior Open, ITTF Global Junior Circuit Event, Auckland.

Junior men’s final:
Clarence Chew(Singapore) bt Max Poungsri(Thailand) 11-8 9-11 11-6 6-11 11-9 10-12 11-5.

Junior women’s final:
Isabelle Siyun Li(Singapore) bt Yee Lok Lam(Hong Kong) 11-6 11-4 11-4 11-6

Cadet girls singles final:
Sophia Dong(New Zealand) Lea Lai Van(New Caledonia) 11-4 11-6 11-6

Cadet boys singles final:
Yang Shen(Australia) bt Ivan Sulfaro(Australia) 12-10 11-13 11-8 11-4

Junior men’s doubles final:
Dillon Cathcart/Nathan Van Der Heiden(Australia) bt Daniel Lowe/Tom Nguyen(New Zealand) 11-5 5-11 11-7 11-7.

Junior women’s doubles final:
Yee Lok Lam(Hong Kong)/Isabelle Siyun Li(Singapore) bt Eliza Forster(Australia)/Samantha Ong(Malaysia) 11-3 11-5 11-5

Cadet boys doubles final:
Jake Duffy/Ivan Sulfaro(Australia) bt Dominic Huang/Yang Shen(Australia) 11-5 6-11 11-4 4-11 11-4

Cadet girls doubles final:
Sophia Dong/Ruofei Rao(New Zealand) bt Desiree Hung(Hong Kong)/Samantha Ong(Malaysia) 11-9 11-5 12-10.