Evening of Day 3 of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality European Youth Championships and three teams were competing in the 1-16 position first round.
Hardest task without doubt was that of the Cadet Girls facing no 1 seeded Romania.
Irina Ciobanu was too good for Emily Bates winning comfortably in 3 straight games. Tressa Armitage had the pleasure of facing the No 1 Cadet in Europe, Bernadette Szocs, Tressa fought well but Szocs always had the edge. The Romanians put out two other players for the doubles: Bernadette Balint and Michela Lupu won but it was quite a battle, all the games were close and the English pair took the third game losing by three games to one. The Cadet Girls are now playing for positions 9-16 and face Slovakia tomorrow morning.
The Junior Girls had a mountain to climb as well, Serbia are a very strong team, better in all departments than the English girls. Karina Le Fevre was first on against Gijana Holok, Holok won comfortably three straight. Natalie Slater got her first outing in this match but like Karina her opponent was just too strong, Andrea Todorovic won, again in 3 comfortable games. Chloe Whyte fared little better, Serbian no 3 Aliz Durcik handed out similar punishment as she also won in 3 straight games. The Junior Girls now face the Czech Republic in a 9-16 position match.
If the Girls are struggling at this exalted level the same definitely cannot be said of the Junior Boys. A superb win over Sweden had most of the hall watching as Liam Pitchford produced two superb wins, first over Anthony Tran and second over European no 5 Hampus Soderlund, both in 4 games. In between Sean Cullen produced his own magnificent win beating the Swedish no 3 Martin Cederlof in 5 pulsating games. A 3-1 victory for the Junior Boys and a place in the quarter-finals against Serbia.
The Junior boys have performed superbly with a weakened team due to injury, all credit to all three players who have given their all in every match win or lose.
Photo: Liam Pitchford -Courtesy Henk Hommes
Evening Results
Junior Boys
Sweden 1 England 3
SODERLUND, Hampus (SWE) beat McBEATH, David (ENG) 11:7 11:4 11:5
TRAN, Anthony (SWE) lost to PITCHFORD, Liam (ENG) 9:11 11:8 10:12 6:11
CEDERLOF, Martin (SWE) lost to CULLEN, Sean (ENG) 6:11 8:11 11:7 11:9 7:11
SODERLUND, Hampus (SWE) lost to PITCHFORD, Liam (ENG) 8:11 11:9 7:11 5:11
Junior Girls
England 0 Serbia 3
LE FEVRE, Karina (ENG lost to HOLOK, Dijana (SRB) 7:11 2:11 7:11
SLATER, Natalie (ENG) lost to TODOROVIC, Andrea (SRB) 3:11 9:11 3:11
WHYTE, Chloe (ENG) lost to DURCIK, Aliz (SRB) 4:11 9:11 7:11
Cadet Girls
England 0 Romania 3
BATES, Emily (ENG) lost to CIOBANU, Irina (ROU) 5:11 7:11 5:11
ARMITAGE, Tressa (ENG) lost to SZOCS, Bernadette Cynthia (ROU) 5:11 2:11 14:16
BATES, Emily/ARMITAGE, Tressa (ENG) lost to BALINT, Bernadette/LUPU, Michaela Diana (ROU) 9-11 9-11 11-7 8-11
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