Day three review: China boys' team shocked; Japan and Korea triumph

Day three review: China boys' team shocked; Japan and Korea triumph

02 Dec 2016

Day three at the Sun International 2016 World Junior Table Tennis Championship was a shocking day for Chinese boys' team as they suffered defeat from Korea in the semi finals. On the other hand both Japanese girls' and boys' teams asserted their place in the finals.

Korea boys' team celebrate after defeating China in the semi finals. Photo By: Remy Gros

By Neha Aggarwal

Junior Boys

For the first time is the history of Junior World Championships, the boys’ team from China have NOT made it to the final round. Korea Republic’s trio of Cho Seungmin , An Jaehyun and Kim Daewoo created history as they defeated China’s boys’ team comprised of Yu Heyi, Xu Haidong and Xu Yingbin in a nail biting encounter that was decided in all five matches. Korea started well with a 1-0 lead but China responded ferociously, winning next two matches and thus making a 2-1 lead. However, the Koreans were determined than ever before and never gave up. They came back winning the entire fixture 3-2.

With this win, Korea Republic moved to the penultimate round where they will face world number one Japan.

“We have never beaten China before until the Asian Junior Championship in Thailand last September and since then our confidence of beating has grown. Before the match, we knew we had the quality to beat the Chinese. I am so happy that we were able to repeat the feat again. The final against Japan will be tough because to beat them we have to prepare more than before. But we will try our best just like we did against China to be on top.”- An Jaehyun (KOR)

Japan overcame Chinese Taipei in a comfortable 3-0 victory in the semi finals. Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto, Yuto Kizukuri and Yuki Matsuyama crushed the team of Chinese Taipei comprised of Huang Chien-Tu, Lin Yun-Ju and Feng Yi-Hsin to move to the final round.

The Japanese boys are at the peak of their performance, looking strong in the tournament. On the other hand, Korea is high of confidence after their win over China, and thus the final match will be a thrilling contest.

http://www.ittf.com/2016/12/02/day-three-review-china-boys-team-shocked-japan-korea-triumph

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