July 18, 2016

Different Partners but Once Again Success for Victor Liu and Xu Yingbin

2016 Hong Kong Junior & Cadet Open – ITTF Golden Series Junior Circuit
Courtesy of ITTF

July 16, 2016 – Just under one year ago, in the setting of the Queen Elizabeth Stadium, Victor Liu of the United States emerged successful in the Cadet Boys’ Team title; approaching twelve months later in the very same venue, on Saturday July 16th, he repeated the feat.

Only at the Nikon 2016 Hong Kong Junior and Cadet Open, it was with a different partner; in 2015 he had joined forces with China’s Xu Yingbin, now it was in harness with Yang Shuo, also from China.

Likewise, it was a pleasant return to the Special Administrative Region of China for Xu Yingbin; alongside Yu Heyi and Yuan Licen, he was a member of the successful outfit that struck gold in the Junior Boys’ Team event.

Success in Style
Furthermore, for both players it was success in style; neither outfit was at any stage stretched the full five match distance.

At the quarterfinal stage of the Cadet Boys’ Team event, a three-one success was posted against the Hong Kong ‘B’ Team partnership of Chan Yee Shun and Lee Pak Ho; before by the same margin, victory was secured in opposition to the Korean combination of Park Gyeontae and Hwang Jinha.

The Final 
A place in the final booked, matters progressed as in the previous two rounds; a three-one victory margin was recorded against the Chinese Taipei ‘B’ Team duo of Huang Yan-Cheng and Feng Yi-Hsin.

Notably Yang Shuo maintained his unbeaten record in singles matches. He accounted for Huang Yan-Cheng (11-4, 12-14, 11-5, 11-6) and Feng Yi-Hsin (11-5, 4-11, 11-4, 11-8) with the one further success being secured in the doubles (1-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6). The one win for Chinese Taipei was gained in the second match of the engagement when Feng Yi-Hsin overcame Victor Liu (11-5, 10-12, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9).

Opposite Half of Draw 
In the opposite half of the draw in the latter stages Huang Yan-Cheng and Feng Yi-Hsin ended the hopes of the host association.

Impressively, in the round of the last eight they beat the Hong Kong ‘D’ Team duo of Wong Hon Lam and Chui King Kiu, before overcoming the Hong Kong ‘C’ Team partnership of Chou Chun Kit and Maurice Kai Ning Chong.

Convincing 
Convincing from Victor Liu and Yang Shuo; it was even more convincing from Xu Yingbin, Yu Heyi and Yuan Licen.

They surrendered just on individual match en route to the title; the one hiccup was in the semi-final duel against Hong Kong, the second seeds, when Kwan Man Ho beat Xu Yingbin (11-7, 11-9), 7-11, 11-9).

Success by three matches to one was the end result; Ng Pak Nam was beaten by both Yu Heyi (11-6, 10-12, 11-7, 11-7) and by Xu Yingbin (11-5, 12-10, 11-6); whilst in the third match of the fixture, Cheng Pak Hei had suffered against Yuan Licen (11-9, 11-3, 11-9).

Final 
One match surrendered, in the final, as it had been in the quarter-final against the Thailand trio of Sirawit Puangthip, Pattaratorn Passara and Yanapong Panagitgun, it was a three-nil success.

No mercy was displayed against the Chinese Taipei outfit formed by Huang Chien-Tu, Lin Yu-Ju and Yu Cheng-Feng.

Xu Yingbin beat Huang Chien-Tu (11-8, 11-2, 12-10), Yu Heyi overcame Lin Yun-Ju (11-4, 11-9, 4-11, 11-9), before Yuan Licen ended matters by defeating Yi Cheng-Feng 11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 11-4).

Beat Top Seeds 
Victory over Chinese Taipei was a most creditable success; at the quarter-final Huang Chien-Tu, Lin Yu-Ju and Yu Cheng-Feng had caused a major upset by overcoming the top seeded Japanese trio of Yukiya Uda, Kojo Kanamitsu and Shunsuke Togami by three matches to nil.

It was a result they were also to repeat at the semi-final stage in opposition to the Korean outfit formed by Seo Hongchan, Kang Jiho and Jung Namju.

Individual Events 
The team events concluded, attention now turns to the individual competition; play in the Junior Boys’ Singles and Cadet Boys’ Singles events commence on Sunday July 17th.