The English cadet girls again showed their strength on the international scene as Tin-Tin Ho and Maria Tsaptsinos reached the team semi-final at the Polish Open over the weekend.
In their competition they battled to reach the last four after group victories over Austria A, a mixed team and Poland B. In the last 16 they cruised 3-0 past Poland C before beating Romania 3-1 thanks due to a double from Ho over Arina-Dora Singeorzan and Bianca Crisan.
However, they stumbled at the next hurdle as they were beaten 3-0 by Germany A with Wan Yuan and Alena Lemmer inflicting the defeats.
The cadet boys, short of number 1 Helshan Weerasinghe, did still manage to reach the last 16 after they beat Slovakia B 3-1 in their group to progress. Daniel Lawrence won twice in that match but he was powerless in the next round as Poland A, the eventual winners, won through 3-0.
After the singles and doubles had finished early for the junior boys from England they made sure they progressed from their team group as runners-up. They shook off a 3-0 defeat at the hands of eventual winners Germany A to record a 3-1 victory against Poland B with two wins for Sam Walker and one for George Downing.
Unfortunately, they then met a strong Czech Republic side for which they had no answer although both Walker and Downing could rue losing tight five-game matches in both of their ties.
In the singles competition all eyes were on Tin-Tin after her victories in Portugal and France but this time it was not to be. Despite reaching the quarter-final she was then defeated by Romanian Adina Diaconu 3-1 (6-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-8).
Both Tsaptsinos and Sam Mabey reached the last 64 in the singles before they were knocked-out while Lawrence went one better by reaching the last 32.
The doubles didn’t pull up any big results although Mabey and Lawrence can be proud of their fightback from 2-0 down to win a dramatic five-setter in the round of 64. The last two games were decisively claimed by the English pair 14-12 and 15-13.
Some of the players will now head to the Netherlands for the Six Nations while some will return home for the U11-14s National Championships in Walsall. Full results from Poland can be seen below.
Junior Boys Team:
Group A:
Germany A 3-0 England
Benedikt Duda bt Sam Walker 3-2 (11-8, 11-13, 11-8, 14-16, 11-4)
Qiu Liang bt Lewis Gray 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-4)
Frederick Jost bt George Downing 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-7)
England 3-1 Poland B
Adrian Wiecek bt Lewis Gray 3-1 (11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8)
Sam Walker bt Antoni Witkowski 3-0 (13-11, 11-6, 14-12)
George Downing bt Jakub Folwarski 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-6)
Sam Walker bt Adrian Wiecek 3-0 (12-10, 11-4, 11-9)
Last 16:
Czech Rep A 3-0 England
Michal Benes bt Sam Walker 3-2 (9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5)
Ondrej Bajger bt Lewis Gray 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-4)
Jakub Seibert bt George Downing 3-2 (14-16, 11-6, 11-5, 9-11, 11-4)
Cadet Boys Team:
Group F:
Poland B 3-0 England
Marek Badowski bt Sam Mabey 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-7)
Adrian Dugiel bt Daniel Lawrence 3-1 (11-2, 11-7, 8-11, 14-12)
Badowski/Dugiel bt Mabey/Lawrence 3-1 (11-4, 11-5, 9-11, 11-2)
England 3-0 Hungary (bye)
England 3-1 Slovakia B
Daniel Lawrence bt Matus Diko 3-1 (7-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9)
Andrej Kassay bt Sam Mabey 3-0 (16-14, 13-11, 11-3)
Mabey/Lawrence bt Diko/Kassay 3-1 (11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-7)
Daniel Lawrence bt Andrej Kassay 3-1 (11-8, 11-7, 5-11, 11-5)
Last 16:
Poland A 3-0 England
Aleksander Werecki bt Daniel Lawrence 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-6)
Patryk Zatowka bt Sam Mabey 3-1 (9-11, 11-4, 12-10, 11-4)
Werecki/Zatowka bt Mabey/Lawrence 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 14-12)
Cadet Girls Team:
Group D:
England 3-1 Austria A
Tin-Tin Ho bt Lisa Storer 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-4)
Karoline Mischek bt Maria Tsaptsinos 3-1 (11-13, 11-9, 11-1, 11-6)
Ho/Tsaptsinos bt Storer/Mischek 3-1 (10-12, 11-7, 11-6, 12-10)
Tin-Tin Ho bt Karoline Mischek 3-1 (11-6, 5-11, 11-3, 11-5)
England 3-0 NZ/Czech
Tin-Tin Ho bt Dagmar Penkavova 3-1 (11-5, 8-11, 11-1, 13-11)
Maria Tsaptsinos bt Ola Ratka 3-1 (11-8, 10-12, 12-10, 11-5)
Ho/Tsaptsinos bt Penkavova/Ratka 3-0 (11-3, 11-7, 11-6)
England 3-2 Poland B
Tin-Tin Ho bt Klaudia Nawrocka 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-4)
Zuzanna Wozniak bt Maria Tsaptsinos 3-1 (11-4, 11-1, 7-11, 15-13)
Nawrocka/Wozniak bt Ho/Tsaptsinos 3-1 (11-9, 7-11, 11-4, 11-4)
Tin-Tin Ho bt Zuzanna Wozniak 3-1 (6-11, 18-16, 11-6, 11-8)
Maria Tsaptsinos bt Klaudia Nawrocka 3-1 (11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 13-11)
Last 16:
England 3-0 Poland C
Tin-Tin Ho bt Katarzyna Galus 3-1 (11-3, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5)
Maria Tsaptsinos bt Karolina Lalak 3-2 (12-10, 11-5, 4-11, 6-11, 16-14)
Ho/Tsaptsinos bt Stacheka/Galus 3-1 (8-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-3)
Last 8:
England 3-1 Romania B
Bianca Crisan bt Maria Tsaptsinos 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-8)
Tin-Tin Ho bt Arina-Dora Singeorzan 3-1 (11-7, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9)
Ho/Tsaptsinos bt Singeorzan/Crisan 3-2 (8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 13-15, 15-13)
Tin-Tin Ho bt Bianca Crisan 3-2 (7-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-9, 11-5)
Semi-final:
Germany A 3-0 England
Alena Lemmer bt Tin-Tin Ho 3-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-6)
Wan Yuan bt Maria Tsaptsinos 3-0 (11-3, 11-9, 11-8)
Lemmer/Yuan bt Ho/Tsaptsinos 3-1 (11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-1)
Cadet Boys Singles:
Qualifying Group 6:
Yuki Matsuyama (JPN) bt Daniel Lawrence 3-0 (11-9, 11-2, 11-8)
Daniel Lawrence bt Romualdas Franckaitis (LTU) 3-0 (11-5, 11-4, 13-11)
Qualifying Group 9:
Nils Hohmeier (GER) bt Sam Mabey 3-0 (11-6, 11-7, 11-4)
Sam Mabey bt Rimas Lesiv 3-1 (4-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-3)
Round of 64:
Daniel Lawrence bt Gabor Bohm 3-2 (9-11, 11-9, 15-13, 9-11, 11-8)
Samuel Kaluzny (SVK) bt Sam Mabey 3-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-9)
Round of 32:
Anton Kallberg (SWE) bt Daniel Lawrence 3-1 (8-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-9)
Cadet Girls Singles:
Qualifying Group 2:
Tin-Tin Ho bt Kristina Kazlauskaite (LTU) 3-0 (13-11, 12-10, 11-7)
Tin-Tin Ho bt Raquel Andrade (POR) 3-1 (11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6)
Group 21:
Maria Tsaptsinos bt Katarzyna Wegrzyn (POL) 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-4)
Veronika Kmetova (CZE) bt Maria Tsaptsinos 3-1 (11-6, 11-4, 11-13, 11-3)
Round of 64:
Jolita Sokolovskyte (LTU) bt Maria Tsaptsinos 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 13-11)
Round of 32:
Tin-Tin Ho bt Anna Kiritchenko (FIN) 3-2 (9-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-8)
Round of 16:
Tin-Tin Ho bt Lejla Imre (HUN) 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-9)
Round of 8:
Adina Diaconu (ROM) bt Tin-Tin Ho 3-1 (6-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-8)
Cadet Boys Doubles:
Round of 64:
Mabey/Lawrence bt Misztal/Gierach (POL) 3-2 (7-11, 9-11, 11-5, 14-12, 15-13)
Round of 32:
Matsuyama/Kizukuri (JPN) bt Mabey/Lawrence 3-2 (7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 7-11, 11-6)
Cadet Girls Doubles:
Round of 32:
Kazlauskaite/Rimkeviciute (LTU) bt Ho/Tsaptsinos 3-0 (11-7, 12-10, 11-5)