(by Steve Hopkins)
TeamUSA turned some heads this week in the Czech Republic – and Sally Moyland left with a pair of silver medals in her singles events. Havirov was host to the WTT Youth Contender event that ran through Sunday. Contender events generally feature players outside of the World Top 10 in their respective categories – the top seed in U19 Boys Singles was Poland’s Mateusz Zelengowski at World No. 35 in that category, and the top seed in the U19 Girls Singles event was Japan’s Yuna Ojio who’s junior ranking is No. 22 (and who at age 14 already has an overall World Senior Ranking of No. 228).
TeamUSA did not have players in every event, but did send a strong contingent of players who competed in their age groups. That group included Sally Moyland, Lichen Chen, Tashiya Piyadasa, Nandan Naresh, Sid Naresh, and Darryl Tsao
The headliner for TeamUSA was Sally Moyland who reached the Final in both U19 Girls and U17 Girls. In both Finals, she faced Japanese phenom Yuna Ojio – and in both Finals the higher seeded Ojio won. However, the matches were close, and after falling in a very close 0-3 U17 Singles Final (10, 7, 11), Sally pushed Ojio to the fifth game in the Final of U19 Girls a day later (6, 5, -7, -9, 7). Moyland was brilliant in both events, logging wins over Misuzu Takeya (3-1) in the Semifinals of U17 and over Wong Hoi Tung (3-1) in the U19 Semifinal.
Lichen Chen fought to the Round of 16 in U19 Girls (falling to France’s Charlotte Lutz 2-3). Tashiya Piyadasa reached the Quarterfinals of U13 (falling to Karin Hanazawa of Japan 0-3). Both Nandan and Sid Naresh reached the Round of 32 in U19 Boys. Darryl Tsao fell one round earlier in U19 (in the Round of 64). In U17, Tsao and Nandan Naresh both reached the Quarterfinals.
Nandan Naresh and Moyland teamed up for U19 Mixed Doubles and made it to the Quarters. The same is true for the other US entrant as Tsao and Chen also reached the Quarters in U19 Mixed Doubles.
Solid results for TeamUSA competing against some of the best young players in the World. Next up for TeamUSA? The kids are heading to Sweden for the WTT Youth Contender Helsingborg that starts late this week and runs through next week
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