Tin-Tin Ho’s European team were once again beaten into second place by Asia at the World Cadet Challenge following a close final in Slovenia.
The English girl featured in two of the three team group matches that Europe played in as she recorded victories over both Mariem Ben Cheikh (TUN) and Valeria Cuba (PER) in Europe’s respective 5-0 whitewashes over Africa and the World Hopes team.
She was rested for the final 5-0 win over Oceania before resuming her run in the semi-final where she helped Europe to a confident 3-0 win against Latin America thanks to her 3-1 victory over Daniela Ortega (CHI).
In the final, Europe were led by an inspired Adina Diaconu (ROU) who continues to go from strength to strength as she beat both world no. 2 Mima Ito (JPN) and world no. 9 Li Yiran (CHN) to take Europe into a deciding fixture.
However, in a repeat of last year, Europe were denied the gold medal as Chinese star Li Yiran proved too strong for the English 15-year-old and her 3-0 win sealed the favourites spot at the top of the podium.
The teams will now enjoy a day’s rest for the self-titled ‘I feel Slovenia day’ before the individual events start on Friday (November 1).
ITTF World Cadet Challenge (Otocec, SLO) Selected Results:
Cadet Girls (U15 WR in brackets):
Group B:
Europe 5-0 Africa
Tin-Tin Ho (22) bt Mariem Ben Cheikh (TUN, 316) 3-1 (11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 11-4)
Europe 5-0 World Hopes
Tin-Tin Ho (22) bt Valeria Cuba (PER, 154) 3-0 (11-4, 11-5, 11-5)
Europe 5-0 Oceania
Did not feature
Semi-Final:
Europe 3-0 Latin America
Tin-Tin Ho (22) bt Daniela Ortega (CHI, 90) 3-1 (8-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-6)
Final:
Asia 3-2 Europe
Mima Ito (JPN, 2) bt Tin-Tin Ho (22) 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-9)
Adina Diaconu (RUS, 13) bt Li Yiran (CHN, 9) 3-1 (11-9, 2-11, 11-5, 11-9)
Kim Jiho (KOR, 15) bt Lisa Lung (BEL, 30) 3-2 (3-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-3)
Adina Diaconu (ROU, 13) bt Mima Ito (JPN, 2) 3-2 (11-6, 10-12, 11-6, 6-11, 11-9)
Li Yiran (CHN, 9) bt Tin-Tin Ho (22) 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-4)
Written by Russell Moore (October 30, 2013)