It will be a China-Japan showdown in both boys’ and girls’ teams final in the 10th World Junior Table Tennis championship at SAAP Indoor Stadium at Gachibowli. In the boys semi-finals, China and Japan got the better of France and South Korea 3-1 respectively in the semi-finals on Tuesday.
However, in the girls semi-finals, China and Japan scored contrasting wins on their way to the final. The indefatigable China suffered a wobble before they found their feet to overcome a resilient Germany 3-1.
Solja Petrissa, who is seeded sixth in the individual events, caused a tremor in the Chinese camp when she stunned second seed Gu Yuting.
However, China bounced back strongly to win the next three games to set up a summit clash with Japan, who had to wage a grim battle before ousting Hong Kong 3-2.
It was a battle between the two south paws. Petrissa was efficient and strategically strong to pin down Yuting. Playing very close to the table, the German pushed the Chinese with an attacking game. The first game was tight before Yuting prevailed but in the next two games Petrissa ran through Yuting’s defence.
The Japan-Hong Kong duel went to the distance before Miyu Maedu won the decider against Li Ching Wan in straight games.
In the fight for 11th spot, India blanked Netherlands 3-0. The home crowd had to something to cheer when Karnam Spoorthy routed Rianne van Duin 3-0. Earlier playing her first match, she stretched Ya-Ting Hsu of Chinese Taipei as India lost to Chinese Taipei 0-3.
Indian boys finished 16th after losing their positional match to a higher-ranked Egypt 3-1.
RESULTS: BOYS: QUARTERFINALS: South Korea bt Hong Kong 3-0. China bt Germany 3-0. Japan bt Chinese Taipei 3-2, France bt Poland 3-0. POSITIONS: 9-12: Czech Republic bt Belgium 3-2, Brazil bt Hungary 3-1; POSITIONS: 13-16: Argentina bt Italy 3-0, Egypt bt India 3-1
GIRLS: (SEMIFINALS): China bt Germany 3-1 , Japan bt Hong Kong 3-2 .
QUARTERFINALS: China bt South Korea 3-0. Japan bt Romania 3-0. Hong Kong bt Croatia 3-1. Germany bt USA 3-2. POSITIONS: 9-12: Chinese Taipei bt India 3-0 , Russia bt Netherlands 3-1, Chinese Taipei bt Russia 3-0, India bt Netherlands.