Tin-Tin Ho made the most of her late call-up to the Europe Youth Top 10 event as she won five matches out of nine to finish in fifth place in the Junior Girls’ event.
The 16-year-old, who had only received a call-up from first reserve on the eve of the tournament and was seeded 10th, lost her opening match 4-1 to Poland’s Natalia Bajor, but bounced back to win her next three to put her in the upper reaches of the standings.
Defeats to Pauline Chasselin of France and Wan Yuan of Germany ruled out the possibility of overall victory, but victories over France’s Laura Pfefer in round seven and Bernadett Balint of Romania in an eipc ninth and final match which went the distance meant she was in contention for a podium place, havig scored 14 points.
However, on countback, she finished behind Bajor, who took third, and Yuan in fourth.
Chasselin was the silver medalist, while gold went to Croatia’s Lea Rakovac, who won all nine matches to finish with 18 points.
England Performance Coach Alan Cooke said: “She was a really late replacement. We knew she was first reserve, but they only let us know early that morning – we were on the road and had to wait for her.
“In some ways, maybe that helped her in terms of not worrying too much about it. She looked and played great throughout the tournament. She was positive from the word go and put in some really good performances – some of the best table tennis I have seen her play for a long time.
“There were ebbs and flows and the last match typified that. From 9-5 down in the last, the last six points she played were tremendous. It was aggressive and taking the fight to her opponent and not sitting back.”
In the Cadet Boys’ tournament, Tom Jarvis, also seeded 10th, won matches against Andrei Putuntica of Macedonia in round five and Nolan Givone of France in round seven.
He also took silver medallist Irvin Bertrand to seven sets in his final match as he finished 10th, just one point behind three other players.
Gold went to Romania’s Cristian Pletea and bronze to Germany’s Gerrit Engemann.
Cooke said: “Tom struggled a little bit on the first day. He always prepares and fights, that’s his nature, but he wasn’t at his best that day.
“But he definitely put that right and he was competitive in pretty much every match after that and although he only won two, the way he was playing he was capable of beating all of them.
“I would say he learned a lot from the weekend about the level the higher players are playing at. He will go away wiser about what he needs to work on.
“Overall, it was a positive experience for both players.”
Tin-Tin Ho’s Junior Girls’ results:
Round one: lost to Natalia Bajor (POL) 1-4 (11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 5-11, 6-11)
Round two: beat Maria Malanina (RUS) 4-1 (7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-3, 11-7)
Round three: beat Ekatarina Guseva (RUS) 4-2 (4-11, 12-10, 13-15, 11-5, 11-9, 11-66)
Round four: beat Audrey Zarif (FRA) 4-2 (11-6, 10-12, 6-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-9)
Round five: lost to Pauline Chasselin (FRA) 1-4 (8-11, 12-10, 9-11, 9-11, 7-11)
Round six: lost to Wan Yuan (GER) 2-4 (7-11, 11-5, 6-11, 4-11, 11-4, 3-11)
Round seven: beat Laura Pfefer (FRA) 4-3 (9-11, 4-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8, 10-12, 11-9)
Round eight: lost to Lea Rakovac (CRO) 4-0 (9-11, 11-13, 6-11, 8-11)
Round nine: beat Bernadett Balint (ROM) 4-3 (11-6, 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9)
Tom Jarvis Cadet Boys’ results:
Round one: lost to Gerrit Engemann (GER) 1-4 (4-11, 11-9, 3-11, 4-11, 4-11)
Round two: lost to Artur Abusev (RUS) 1-4 (5-11, 11-6, 5-11, 6-11, 7-11)
Round three: lost to Cristian Pletea (ROU) 0-4 (7-11, 7-11, 3-11, 4-11)
Round four: lost to Andreas Dilling (DEN) 1-4 (12-10, 6-11, 14-16, 7-11, 7-11)
Round five: beat Andrei Putuntica (MDA) 4-3 (8-11, 10-12, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9)
Round six: lost to Rares Sipos (ROU) 2-4 (6-11, 7-11, 12-10, 4-11, 11-7, 5-11)
Round seven: beat Nolan Givone (FRA) 4-2 (12-10, 9-11, 7-11, 14-12, 11-1, 11-7)
Round eight: lost to Denis Ivonin (RUS) 1-4 (3-11, 5-11, 11-9, 18-20, 9-11)
Round nine: lost to Irvin Bertrand (FRA) 3-4 (10-12, 11-2, 8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 6-11)
Click here to see the full results from the event.
Meanwhile, Jarvis has been named on a shortlist of three for the Lincolnshire Young Sportsman of the Year award.
He will be up against canoeist Peter Quittenton and triathlete Chris Davies. The winner will be revealed at a ceremony on Thursday, November 6 at the Lincolnshire Showground.
Paul Stimpson
October 6, 2014