(By Zhou Xin)
Zhou Xin: Slovenia Junior & Cadet Open News and Updates
My second trip to Europe this year as a coach. This time for the Slovenia Junior & Cadet Open. Amy Wang, Victor Liu, Nikhil Kumar, and Adi Godhwani came with me. Today is the fourth day. The tournament will end tomorrow.
The first two days were for Teams competition. Four US players participated in three events, Amy in Junior Girls Teams, Victor and Nikhil in Junior Boys Teams, and Adi in Cadet Boys Teams. Both Amy and Nikhil are still eligible for Cadet events but they chose to take the challenges in the Junior ones.
I’m very proud of all them. In the first day, we won 6 team competitions and lost only one. Both our junior girls and boys teams advanced to the main draw. Alas, the cadet boys team finished second and only one team got to advance.
Our junior teams won in the quarterfinals on the second day but both lost in the semifinals and settled for Bronze medals. So, in terms of teams, we did all right but individually I think we could have done better. I felt bad that due to schedule conflict, I did not get the chance to coach Amy’s team. One coach for three teams (four players) was impossible but we did the best we could.
The individual events starts on the third day. Victor Liu was seeded directly into the main draw due to his world ranking while other three had to play in the preliminary rounds. Our three players played 9 matches in total for the day and won 8 of them. All three players will join Victor in the main draw in the fourth day. Kudos to our players.
The main draw will start today. We don’t have anything in the morning. The consolation draws are going on now. We will play Doubles first in the afternoon and Singles in the evening. All four players will play today
It’s gonna be a busy day. However, the busier the better. It means our players go far in the draw.
For original article, please click here
For more information of the tournament, please click here