Career First, Yuya Oshima Beats Top Seed, Maintains Outstanding Form
2015 ITTF Grand Finals
December 10-13, 2015 in Lisbon, Portugal
Courtesy of ITTF

Player’s List  |  Live Scoring  |  Match Results: Dec 10th, Dec 11th

Impressive in the first series of matches in the qualification group stage of the Under 21 Men’s Singles event at the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in Lisbon, Portugal on the morning of Thursday December 10th; Japan’s Yuya Oshima and Denmark’s Zhai Yujia continued their outstanding form in the second series of contests later in the day.

Irrepressible, Yuya Oshima, the no.3 seed, accounted for Korea’s Jang Woojin, the no.1 seed (11-4, 11-8, 11-3, 11-6), whilst in the adjacent table Zhai Yujia, the no.2 seed, overcame Yuya Oshima’s colleague, Masaki Yoshida, the no.6 seed (11-7, 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8).

Three Defeats
“I’ve played Jang Woojin three times before and never won”, smiled Yuya Oshima. “I am really happy with my performance today.”

All three contests have been in Under 21 Men’s Singles event on the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour. In 2014 in Korea they met in the opening round; earlier this year the confronted each other in the final in Australia and in the semi-final in China.

Receive of Service Vital
“I felt quite confident before the match and quite relaxed”, added Yuya Oshima. “Today he didn’t receive service very well; I served short to the middle, he tried to return with the backhand over the table and he made mistakes.”

Errors returning service but there was one other factor; Yuya Oshima was too fast in every aspect of the match. He was too fast with his first attack and too fast with his footwork; that rarely happens against a Korean.

Possible Injury
However, was there a reason?

“I think Jang Woojin has a slight back injury”, explained a very generous Yuya Oshima. “Maybe that hampered him today.”

Benjamin Brossier
Success for Yuya Oshima, there was also success for Frenchman, Benjamin Brossier.

The no.5 seed who earlier in the day had experienced a narrow defeat at the hands of Jang Woojin (11-7, 8-11, 5-11, 9-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-8), responded to beat the host nation’s João Geraldo (11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-3).

“We were both tense but perhaps João was more tense than me; he was under pressure, he was playing at home”, explained Benjamin Brossier. “I don’t feel I played that well, it was two games each and I was down 4-8; at that stage I varied my services more, I became more aggressive with my play and found a better tempo.”

Current Situation
Thus after two series of matches in the group, Yuya Oshima remains unbeaten, Benjamin Brossier and Jang Woojin each possess one success; for João Geraldo the cupboard is bare.

Corresponding Group
Meanwhile, in the corresponding group, after two series of matches, Zhai Yujia is the one unbeaten player, with Masaki Yoshida and Kohei Sambe each possessing one win.

Earlier in the day Zhai Yujia had beaten Kim Donghyun, the no.4 seed (8-11, 13-11, 6-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-5), whilst Masaki Yoshida had accounted for Japanese colleague, Kohei Sambe, the no.7 seed (11-8, 11-1, 11-7, 6-11, 11-4).

In the second series of matches, in addition to the success recorded by Zhai Yujia, Kohei Sambe beat Kim Donghyun (8-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8).

RESULTS

• Men’s Singles – Athlete Profiles
• Women’s Singles – Athlete Profiles
• Men’s Doubles
• Women’s Doubles
• U-21 Singles
  • Semi-finals & Final: Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles (Begins Friday Dec. 11th)
  • Qualification Rounds: Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles

Visit ITTF World Tour Grand Finals tournament page for more information.