Tin-Tin Ho & Maria Tsaptsinos were outclassed by a North Korean pair as they went out of the girls’doubles in the quarter-finals at the World Junior Championships.
Opponents Un Gum Ko & Yong Hae Ri, the 18th seeds, were too good as they completed an emphatic 4-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-2, 11-1) victory.
Yesterday, the English pair notched two great victories to move into the last eight in France.
Seeded 17th, they first beat eighth-seeded Russian pair Maria Malanina and Maria Taylakova in four games in the last 32, before seeing off Hong Kong duo Ka Yee Lee & Qi Liu in the last 16, again in four.
Of the first match, Maria told the ITTF website: “In the first two games I don’t think they were prepared for our style of play.
“I like to play a step back from the table and top spin, whilst Tin-Tin prefers to play closer to the table; she can follow me and attack quickly.”
Meanwhile, Tin-Tin, Maria and Helshan Weerasinghe were all knocked out of the singles in the last 64.
Maria came closest to extending her interest in the competition in Vendee, taking Belgium’s Lisa Lung to a decider. Indeed, Maria, ranked 61st of the 91 players competing in France, led 3-2 against the 23rd seed and was beaten on deuce in the decier.
Tin-Tin, seeded 22, was up against 28th seed Tze Wing Mak of Hong Kong and, despite taking the first game, went down 4-1.
Helshan, ranked 42 in the competition, was up against 30th seed Malte Moregard of Sweden. He also took the first set but was ultimately beaten 4-2.
On his World Juniors experience, Helshan said: “I had a good match against the Russian in the groups (he beat Nikita Yarushin 4-0) and played strongly from start to finish in that. I felt I was in control and more aggressive than him when the scores were close.
“I felt I was dealt a good draw against the Swede but unfortunately couldn’t capitalise on this. I had problems receiving his service at the start and that made me indecisive in the rallies. I had a decent lead in the third game and should have been 2-1 up, really, but sadly it didn’t happen.
“It was a disappointing end but I can only look forward now.”
On her overall experience of the World Juniors, Tin-Tin said: “It was a really great experience and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment competing again. I am very happy with the doubles result with Maria as we got to the quarter-finals.
“I learnt a lot from my singles match even though it was personally disappointing with the way the match went. The mixed doubles went well but we had a good chance against the Koreans.
“I will continue to learn and hopefully I can do better next year.”
Results
Boys’ Singles
Round of 64
Malte Moregard (SWE) bt Helshan Weerasinghe 4-2 (11-13, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-5)
Girls’ Singles
Round of 64
Lisa Lung (BEL) bt Maria Tsaptsinos 4-3 (11-6, 8-11, 8-11, 11-3, 4-11, 11-3, 12-10)
Tze Wing Mak (HKG) bt Tin-Tin Ho 4-1 (6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9)
Girls’ Doubles
Round of 32
Tin-Tin Ho & Maria Tsaptsinos bt Maria Malanina & Maria Taylakova (RUS) 3-1 (11-4, 12-10, 5-11, 11-9)
Round of 16
Ho & Tsaptsinos bt Ka Yee Lee & Qi Liu (HKG) 3-1 (3-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8)
Quarter-finals
Un Gum Ko & Yong Hae Ri (PRK) bt Ho & Tsaptsinos 4-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-2, 11-1)