The European Youth squad with the Youth Sports Director Sandra Hanf (GER) as their leader and Piotr Kedzior (POL) as support is currently trying to repeat their outstanding results from last year.
The divisions are Under 17’s, Under 19’s and Girls. There are 24 players participating in each division, representing a total of 28 nations
Under 19’s
Joshua Filler (GER) had a walk over in his first round. He then got the better of Samuel Hui Sim/Zhong (SIN) with 9:4. The balls were rolling in his favor in that match. His teammate and fellow countryman Raphael Wahl (GER) had a perfect start with a 9:1 victory over Nasie Kotze (RSA). In the second round, Wahl met Liu Hao Wei (TPE). The match was really close and a tough fight for both players. After 14 racks, the score was tied at 7:7. Then Liu managed to get the upper hand and win the match with 9:7. That brought Wahl to the loser’s side of the bracket. Patrick Statkiewicz (POL) lost his opening match to strong American Nick Evans (USA) with 8:9. The Polish lad was already on the hill with 8:6 when he overcoat an 8-ball. That gave second life to Evans. He came back, and at 8:8 he recovered from a tough safety position, winning the match with the closest result possible. Pius Labutis (LIT) drew Kim Su Ung (KOR) in his first round match. The match was completely leveled and Labutis had the luckier end with 9:8 on his side. The player from Lithuania also won his second match over local player Wen Wu (CHN) with 9:6 and will try - just like Filler - to make it into the quarter-finals.
Under 17’s
Maxim Dudanets (RUS), Daniel Maciol (POL) and Cyriel Ledoux (NED) had a walk-over in their first round match. Then, Maciol won over Nick Evans (USA) 7:5. Dudanets took down YIP King Ning Leo (HKG) 7:4 while Ledoux wrestled down Kong Dejing (CHN) with 7:5 after having trailed already 2:4 in that match. Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH) forfeited his first round match. He will now face YIP King Ning Leo in the loser’s round. Dudanets, Maciol and Ledoux are right on track and play for the quarter-finals today.
Girls
Nataliya Seroshtan (RUS) was seeded Nr.1 in the girls division, being the defending World Champion. After a walk-over in the first round, she clearly dominated Kim Bo Geon (KOR) with 7:3. Kamila Khodjaeva (BEL) had a close encounter with Liu Yuchen (CHN) and the match was pretty even until a score of 4:4 was on the boards. Then, Liu started committing mistakes and Khodjaeva punished her for it, winning the match with 7:4. Kristina Tkach (RUS) crushed Taylor Reynolds (USA) in the first round with 7:1. Then she met last year’s runner-up Yuki Hiraguchi (JPN). After a long fight, Tkach had to give in to the strong Japanese, losing 4:7 in the end. Marharyta Fefilava (BLR) met Chezka Luy Centeno (PHI) in the first round. The match was dominated by safety play and Marharyta did not achieve to come up with safeties which were good enough to put her opponent into danger. The filipina won the match with 7:5. Fefilava lost the match without any missed shot. Her safety play was simply not good enough and she left chances for her opponent. Today, Feilava will have another chance on the loser’s side against Kayla Roll-on (USA).
