Spaniard Carlos Vedriel who kept punching much above his weight to make it to the final was running on empty tanks in the title round and could not maintain the required intensity, losing rather tamely to Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto in the boy’s final of the 11even Sports ITTF World Junior Circuit Finals at Abhay Prashal, Indore on Sunday.
The girl’s final was relatively a much tougher contest, in which Hong Kong’s Zhu Chengzhu prevailed over Korea’s Seri Park 4-2.
Harimoto Tomokazu (Boy’s Singles winner) and Zhu Chengzhu (Girl’s Singles winner) with Ms Vita Dani Promoter of 11even Sports at the 11even Sports 2015 World Junior Circuit Finals held at Indore on Sunday.
Vedriel, who accounted for the top seed AN Jaehyun of Korea in the semi-finals, in a tough match that went the distance, seemed a drained force in the final. Always relying on his attacking skills and playing at a high level of intensity, Vedriel could not rise to the occasion against the composed Japanese, who mixed power with guile to keep Verdiel guessing. The 4-0 scoreline was hardly a testimony to the Spaniard’s attacking game.
Also playing the spoiler was girls 12th seed Seri Park of Korea, who knocked out top seed Adina Dicanou of Romania in the semis and put up a gallant fight against third seed Chengzhu Zhu of Hong Kong in the final. Trailing 0-2 and then 1-3 against her higher ranked opponent the deceptive Seri always posed a threat to her opponent. Lapses in concentration in the sixth game, which saw her slump to a 0-4 deficit prompting her coach to ask for a timeout, did not help matter much as Chengzhu, sensing victory, stepped up her attack to win the game and match.
The winners took home USD 3800, while the runner-up players had to be content with USD 2100.
Results (finals)
Boys: 3-HARIMOTO Tomokazu (JPN) bt 10-VEDRIEL Carlos (ESP) 4-0 (11-7, 111-7, 11-3, 11-5)
Girls: 3-ZHU Chengzhu (HKG) bt 12-PARK Seri (KOR) 4-2 (11-4, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7)
Semi-finals
Boys:3- HARIMOTO Tomokazu (JPN) bt 7-ZHANG Kai (USA) 4-1 (11-6, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10); 10-VEDRIEL Carlos (ESP) bt 1-AN Jaehyun (KOR) 4-3 (11-7, 13-11, 11-8, 8-11, 1-11, 10-12, 11-8)
Girls: 3-ZHU Chengzhu (HKG) bt 5-Andrea Dragoman (ROU) 4-0 (12-10, 12-10, 11-4, 12-10); 12-PARK Seri (KOR) bt 1-Adina Diaconu (ROU) 4-0 (11-5, 14-12, 11-7, 12-10)