JESSICA AND KARIN: FAVORITES IN CHILE
Por CBTM
In 2006, the Chile Junior Open brought the international junior tournaments on the ITTF World Junior Circuit to a conclusion.
Poland reigned supreme in the girls' events as the trio of Natalia Partyka, Marta Golota and Natalia Bak swept all before them. In 2007 the Chile Junior Open is in the first half of the calendar year, the Poles are not on duty and the country on which eyes will be focused in the female events is undoubtedly Brazil led by Jessica Yamada.
The seventeen year old emerged as the most successful player at last week's Venezuelan Junior Open winning the Girls' Singles event whilst also partnering Karin Fukushima to gold in the Girls' Doubles.
Line Up
In Chile, Jessica Yamada alongside Karin Fukushima and Livia Mizobuchi start as the top seeds in the Girls' Team event which commences on Thursday 8th March 2007 in the picturesque city of Viña del Mar.
At the Venezuelan Junior Open, Jessica Yamada showed not only skill but strength of character. In the final of the Girls' Singles event she had to face the host nation's Ruaida Ezzeddine; the latter had vociferous home support but it did no ruffle the totally determined Brazilian.
Same Situation
In Viña del Mar she may well find herself in the same situation; in the Girls' Team event; Chile, who select from a squad of Blanca Duran, Paula Avalos, Natalia Castellano and Karen Rojas, is the second seeded team and undoubtedly they will provide tough opposition.
Third seeds are Ana Codina and Brenda Paez from Argentina; they suffered at the hands of both Venezuela and Cuba in Valencia and will be seeking a place on the medal rostrum in Chile.
Puerto Rico
However, the team that may well cause the top three seeded outfits problems is Puerto Rico, the number four seeds. They are represented by Lyanne Aponte and Cynthia Gonzalez and they have experience of playing in finals on the ITTF World Junior Circuit and experiencing the pressure of such situations.
In August 2006 they won the Cadet Girls' Singles title at the El Salvador Junior Open beating Sweden in the final.
Brazil may well start as favourites but Puerto Rico could well be the team to watch.
Schedule
Play in the Girls' Team event starts at 3.00pm on Thursday 8th March 2007.
The finals of both the Boys' and Girls' Team events will be on Friday 9th March 2007 followed by the individual competitions. The finals of the singles and doubles events will be staged on Sunday 11th March 2007.
