Kiwis Make Quarters At International Table Tennis.
Two New Zealand boys and four Kiwis girls have made it into the singles quarter-finals at the KVB Kunlun ITTF New Zealand Junior and Cadet Open table tennis tournament being held in Auckland.
In some entertaining matches with plenty of noise associated with them too, hometown hero Kevin Wu defeated Dillon Cathcart from Australia in a four games to one victory after the Aussie had taken an early lead.
Wu, 15 had earlier booked his place in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in August and is also looking forward to playing in the senior Oceania table tennis champs starting on Monday in Auckland with Commonwealth Games up for grabs.
Wu will now play highly regarded American Alexander Yao in the quarters. Also into the last eight is Thom Nguyen who had to battle to defeat Australian David Fielding 4-1 and will face top seed, Hong Kong’s Daryl Hung.
New Zealand will be presented by Natalie Paterson, Sophia Dong, Jennifer Tseng and Julie Wu in the girls quarters. Wu is New Zealand’s female representative for the Youth Olympics.
The boys and girls singles quarters, semis and finals will be played this afternoon and evening at the Auckland Table Tennis Association Headquarters, Gillies Ave, Epsom.
Results:
Junior Boys singles second round:
(New Zealand unless noted)
Daryl Hung(Hong Kong) bt Hanson Ling 4-0, Thom Nguyen bt David Fielding(Australia) 4-1, Kevin Wu bt Dillon Cathcarth(Australia) 4-1, Alexander Yao(USA) bt Oliver Scarlett 4-0, Heming Hu(Australia) bt Ocean Belrose(Tahiti) 4-0, Hon Ming Li(Hong Kong) bt Lingnan Kong 4-0, Siu Hang Lam(Hong Kong) bt Jesse Bricknell(Australia) 4-1, Tan Santiwattanatarm(Thailand) bt Zhiyang Cheng 4-0.
Junior Boys singles first round:
Natalie Paterson bt Vaihiria Gaumet(Tahiti) 4-0, Sophia Dong bt Kayla Coombs(Australia) 4-0, Jennifer Tseng bt Louise Manico(Cook Islands) 4-0.
Boys’ Singles Quarter-Finals
Daryl Hung (Hong Kong) v Thom Nguyen (New Zealand)
Alexander Yao (United States of America) v Kevin Wu (New Zealand)
Heming Hu (Australia) v. Li Hon Ming (Hong Kong)
Tanapol Santiwattanatarm (Thailand) v Lam Siu Hang (Hong Kong)
Girls’ Singles Quarter-Finals
Wong Chung Wan (Hong Kong) v Natalie Paterson (New Zealand)
Anna Du (Australia) v Sophia Dong (New Zealand)
Julia Wu (New Zealand) v Vy Bui (Australia)
Lily Phan (Australia) v Jennifer Tseng (New Zealand)