Chilean Teenager Brings Smiles Back to Latin American Faces
December 14, 2009

Felipe Olivares after his victory over Omar Assar

Courtesy of ITTF December 13, 2009 - Five months playing in the Second Division of the German League for the Leipzig based club Saxon-Doebelen would seem to be paying dividends for Chile’s 17 year old Felipe Olivares. At the Volkswagen World Junior Championships in Cartagena de Indias, players from Latin America have not hit the headlines.

However, on the afternoon of Sunday December 13, 2009, there was better news for the amiable Melicio Rivera, the President of the Latin American Table Tennis Union.

He could smile; unexpected success had been achieved.

Creditable Win
Peru’s Angela Mori recorded a creditable win over Marina Matsuzawa, who had one day earlier been a member of Japan’s silver medal girls’ team, after Felipe Olivares had very much stolen the show and ignited broad smiles on the face of coach Marco Nuñez.

In four games, matches being best of five games in the group stage, Felipe Olivares recorded a fine win over the no.12 seed.

Nervous
“I was nervous before the match”, confessed Felipe Olivares. “He’s a very good player; I played against him several times in the past four or five years and today is the first time that I’ve won.”

Certainly Omar Assar has been a player to catch the eye; he finished 2008 in the no.1 spot on the ITTF Junior Circuit Boys’ Standing and in 2009 he occupied that place from start to finish.

Weight of Expectation
In Cartagena de Indias there is a weight of expectation on his shoulders; he leads the Egyptian challenge and moreover it is his swansong in the junior ranks. In 2010 he will be too old for the Under 18 events; it’s now into the ocean and he has to learn to swim with the big fish.

Nevertheless, the form of Omar Assar on the fifth day of play had been impressive; in his opening match he had beaten Poland’s Tomasz Wisniewski in three straight games.

More Topspin
However in opposition to the Chilean it was a different story.

“I played with more topspin today than in previous matches against Omar”, explained Felipe Olivares. “Also, I tried to stay close to table, play over the table whenever possible.”

It was a wise tactic; the ploy reduced the time available to Omar Assar who on the whole executes powerful topspin strokes from half distance.

Service and Receive
“Also, I received service well today; early in the match I made mistakes returning the service with little spin, I returned high but as the match progressed I was able to flick that service”, continued Felipe Olivares. “Equally, he had problems when I did the same service, he returned high and I could attack quickly.”

Defeat for Omar Assar and in the mid afternoon on the third day of player there were further seeded players to bite the dust.

Fourth Seed beaten
The most notable to suffer was Korea’s Jung Young Sik; he was beaten in five games by Portugal’s Diogo Carvalho while lower down the list, Slovenia’s Jan Zibrat defeated Japan’s Kohei Morimoto, the no.16 seed and in three straight games the irrepressible Hapus Soderlund of Sweden accounted for Germany’s Philipp Floritz.

The no.18 seed in the Boys’ Singles event, Philipp Floritz had been an integral member of Germany’s silver medal winning outfit in the Boys’ Team event.

Impressive
An impressive performance by Hampus Soderlund and also by Poland’s Robert Floras and another member of the German Boys’ Team, Ricardo Walther.

The former defeated Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson, the no.19 seed while the latter overcame Croatian no.24 seed, Borna Kovac.