• Prev
• 1 of 4
• Next

Defeats Europe in 2012 World Cadet Challenge

TABLE tennis action at the University of Guam Field House was just as intense and exciting yesterday as it was on opening day.

Competitors gathered in hopes of capturing the championship in team competition. In the girls teams’ main draw, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the World Hopes came ready for battle. After a day of non-stop action, the final two spots came down to Asia and Europe as the two earned their berths after sweeping past World Hopes and Latin America respectively.

Both teams gave everyone in attendance much to cheer about. However, only one team was able to walk away with the title. When it was all said and done, the ladies from Asia celebrated their success after picking up a 3-1 victory.

The first match featured Asia’s Zhuojia He and Europe’s Andreea Clapa. Although He gave Asia their team’s first point after sweeping Clapa in straight sets, the match proved to be a tough one. After going through the first two sets with an 11-3, 11-6 win, He had a tougher third set. Clapa played with perseverance and managed to equalize the game at 10-10 before He scored two straight points to end the match.

After their second match, Asia pulled to within one point of capturing a title. However, Europe’s Tin-Tin Ho put up a fight against Asia’s Mima Ito. Ito closed out the first set on Ho after picking up the 11-5 win. Ho had other intentions and fought back in the second set to clinch an 11-8 win. Both girls went toe-to-toe in the third and fourth sets, but it was Ito who managed to gain the upper edge and close out with an 11-6, 11-8 win.

Facing a must-win situation to extend the match, Europe came out in their third-game with Natalia Bajor squaring off against Wai Yam Minnie Soo. Bajor kept her team’s hopes alive and defeated her opponent in five sets. Bajor was first to strike and captured the 11-6 win. On the ensuing set, Soo evened things after taking the set 11-8. The see-saw battled continued in the third-set as both forced a deuce in the match. Bajor managed to clinch 12-10 to pull within a set of closing the match. Soo had other intentions. After battling back and forth, the two girls eventually tied on several occasions. However, Bajor managed to pull away and close the match out 11-8.

Sensing the momentum trying to shift, Asia came out in the fourth match and relied on He as she took on Ho. Asia would not take any chances and despite Ho’s efforts to keep the match tight through its entirety, He clinched her team’s title with a three-set 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 victory.

Consolation Match

In the consolation match, the World Hopes took on Latin America. Bruna Takahashi started things off for World Hopes as she took on Leticia Nakada. Both ladies needed all five sets to determine the early leader. Takahashi defeated her opponent 11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 9-11, 11-9 to take a 1-0 lead. The following two matches witnessed World Hopes sweeping in three sets to clinch third place.

Final Team Placements (Girls)

• 1st: Asia
• 2nd: Europe
• 3rd: World Hopes
• 4th: Latin America
• 5th: North America
• 6th: Oceania
• 7th: Africa
• 8th: Guam