WJC: German Teenagers Excel in Cartagena
December 10, 2009

Patrick Franziska who gave Germany the perfect start against Chinese Taipei - Photo By: Rémy Gros

Courtesy of ITTF December 9, 2009 - Germany brought proceedings to a close on the first day of play, Wednesday December 9, 2009, at the Volkswagen World Junior Championships in the northern Colombian city of Cartagena by causing the one notable upset to date. In the Boys’ Team event they beat Chinese Taipei, the no.4 seeds, by the impressive margin of three matches to nil.

Having opened proceedings earlier in the day with victory over Australia, the trio of Patrick Franziska, Philipp Floritz and Ricardo Walther hit top form to topple the Asian team.

Perfect Start
Patrick Franziska gave Germany the perfect start by overcoming Chang Shun-Hang, then came the icing on the cake with Philipp Floritz defeating Chen Chien-An, the young man who one year earlier in Madrid had won the Boys’ Singles crown at the 6th ITTF World Junior Championships.

It was a decisive blow; confident, Ricardo Walther brought matters to a conclusion with a straight games win over Wang Li Chung-Yu.

Surprise
“The result was better than we could have anticipated, to win by three matches to nil was a surprise”, said Georg Imhof, the newly appointed German Boys’ Team National Coach. “All three boys played really well.”

Certainly it was a fine performance from the trio.

Crucial
“Against Chang Shun-Hang; Patrick won the third game 11-9; that was crucial”, continued Georg Imhof; had he lost that game it would have been parity and who knows what might have happened.

Equally for Philipp Floritz it was a knife-edge situation. “He lost the first two games against Chen Chien-An and in the fifth game he was down 3-7”, reflected Georg Imhof. “Chen Chien-An became nervous, Philipp became stronger and won the game.”

In fact, Chen Chien-An won only one more point!

Pressure Reduced
“The fact that Patrick won the first match really helped”, added Philipp Floritz. “That took the pressure of me.”

Nevertheless, it was a crucial match and beating the reigning World Junior champion was a performance of note.

Top Three Succeed
Defeat for the no.4 seeds but no such problems for the top three seeded teams; China beat France by three matches to nil whilst by three matches to one Korea defeated Poland and Japan overcame Sweden.

The one success for Poland came from Tomasz Wisniewski against Lee Seung Hyeok in the third match of the duel whilst for Sweden, the opening encounter of the fixture; Hampus Soderlund hit form to beat Koki Niwa.

Hopes Alive
Meanwhile, having lost their opening matches earlier in the day, England, Portugal, Chile and Egypt kept their quarter-final hopes alive; England defeated the United States, Portugal accounted for Colombia and Egypt overcame Australia; all by three matches to nil.

However for Chile it was a different tale; they won a five match thriller against Brazil.

Boys’ Team Event – Group Stage
First Series
Group A: China 3-0 England; France 3-0 U.S.A.
Group B: Korea 3-0 Portugal; Poland 3-0 Colombia
Group C: Japan 3-0 Brazil; Sweden 3-1 Chile
Group D: Chinese Taipei 3-1 Egypt; Germany 3-0 Australia

Second Series
Group A: China 3-0 France; England 3-0 U.S.A.
Group B: Korea 3-1 Poland; Portugal 3-0 Colombia
Group C: Japan 3-1 Sweden; Chile 3-2 Brazil
Group D: Germany 3-0 Chinese Taipei; Egypt 3-0 Australia

Girls’ Team Event – Group Stage
First Series
Group A: China 3-0 Luxembourg Russia 3-0 Colombia
Group B: Japan 3-0 Poland Romania 3-0 Australia
Group C: Korea 3-1 Egypt Germany 3-0 Peru
Group D: Hong Kong 3-0 U.S.A. Chinese Taipei 3-0 Chile

Second Series
Group A: China 3-0 Russia; Luxembourg 3-0 Colombia
Group B: Japan 3-1 Romania; Poland 3-1 Australia
Group C: Korea 3-0 Germany; Egypt 3-0 Peru
Group D: Hong Kong 3-2 Chinese Taipei; U.S.A 3-0 Chile