French and Japanese players progress to third round of Junior Boys Singles of French Open
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) French Junior and Cadet Open is underway at Metz, France. The rounds of the Junior Boys Singles were contested on the evening of the first day of the event. The competition started on April 27 and will continue
till May 1.
Prominent players who made it to the main rounds were, Koki Niwa and Masaki Yoshida from Japan. Koki Niwa is also a contender for the World Championship going to be held next in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Earlier at the Calvo Enterprises Guam Junior and Cadet
Open he lost the final battle against Choi Deok Hwa from Korea. This time he did not give a chance to his opponents to defeat him in each match he fought.
Koki Niwa made it straight to the main round and he competed against Qiu Lang from Germany and he won in five games scoring 12-10, 11-7, 11-8 and 11-9.
The other players who progressed to the third round were Simon Gauzy and Romain Lorentz from the host nation. All four did not surrender a single game during the rounds.
Masaki Yoshida was the number two seeded player of the event and he too progressed to the third round with ease. He competed against Alexandre Cassin, a 12-year-old boy from France, and defeated him in straight games 11-4, 11-6, 11-8 and 11-6. Alexandre
Cassin was the sensational winner of the Hungarian Junior and Cadet Open and also the Czech Junior and Cadet Open earlier this year in the Cadet Boys Singles category.
Simon Gauzy, from the host nation, was seeded number three in the championship and accounted for Indian player, Sourav Saha. It was a straight victory for Simon with a score-line of 12-10, 12-10, 11-3 and 11-9.
Romain Lorentz was the number four seeded player of the championship and he won over Viktor Fredriksson from Sweden in straight bouts 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 and 11-9.
There was more success for the French players in the championship. Benjamin Brossier, Enzo Angles, Antoine Hachard, Tristan Flore and Mehdi Bouloussa all made it successfully to the main rounds.
The Japanese players, Yuto Muramatsu, Maharu Yoshimura, Yuto Higashi and Asuka Saki all made it easily to the third round of the Junior Boys Singles event. There were no major upsets seen among the top-10 seeded players of the event.
The only major upset was for Alexander Robinot who was not only amongst the top seeded players but is also on the eighth rank on the ITTF World Junior Boys ranking.
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