(By Steve Hopkins, photo USATT)

Today was the first day of action at the ITTF World Youth Championships in Cluj Napoca, Romania.  A number of American players are participating in the 16-event Championships. Team events are held first, followed by Singles and Doubles later in the week.

In early action, TeamUSA’s U15 Boys Team defeated Germany 3-1.  USA’s Kyler Chen won the first match over Tien Nghia Phong 3-2.  Kef Noorani then added to the TeamUSA lead with a 3-1 win over Jonas Rinderer.  Germany’s Lukas Wang won the next match 3-0 over Maxim Mouchinski.  Kef Noorani then shut the door with a 3-1 win over Phong.

In the Quarterfinals, TeamUSA’s U15 Boys Team lost to Korea 0-3.  Kef Noorani fell to Lee Seungsoo 3-1, Kyler Chen lost to Ma Yeongmin 3-0, and Jayden Cai lost 3-1 to Kim Jihu.

The TeamUSA U15 Girls also played today.  They won their opening match over host Romania 3-1.  Irene Yeoh started TeamUSA off with a win – 3-0 over Maya Madar.  Romania won the second match when Patricia Stoica defeated Abigail Yu 3-0.  USA’s Satya Aspathi then defeated Kariss Serban 3-1.  And USA’s final point came when Irene Yeoh topped Patricia Stoica 3-0.

The TeamUSA U15 Girls then progressed to play Team China in the Quarterfinals and lost 3-0.  In the opening match, Irene Yeoh came out on fire winning the first two games before falling 3-2 to Liu Ziling.  Satya Aspathi then fell to Zhu Qihui and Tashiya Piyadasa lost to Zhao Wangqi.

Much more action is scheduled over this week, with the Finals for Singles scheduled for next weekend.

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