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Courtesy of Butterfly.tt
Top seed, Patrick Franziska won the Under 21 Men’s Singles title at the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour Koltsovo Russian Open in Ekaterinburg on Saturday September 15th.
In the semi-finals, Patrick Franziska beat colleague, Philipp Floritz, the no.3 seed, (11-6, 11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 11-9), before accounting for Japan’s Yuto Muramatsu, the no.2 seed, in the final (4-11, 15-13, 6-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6).
Final Win Over in Form Japanese Star
Defeat for the Japanese but he gave very creditable performance; it must be remembered that Yuto Muramatsu is only 15 years old, he will still be eligible for Under 21 events in 2018.
At the semi-final stage Yuto Muramatsu had ended Russian dreams by overcoming Vildan Gadiev, a qualifier, in a close seven games duel (11-7, 11-13, 11-4, 11-3, 8-11, 10-12, 11-7).
Knocking on Door
Success for Patrick Franziska is very much a knock on the door of the German senior team.
Crowned European Youth champion in Istanbul in 2010 and with ITTF Junior Circuit wins in 2009 in Tunisia and Poland, Patrick Franziska is on the brink.
Third Player
Currently Timo Boll and Dimitrij Ovtcharov are very much the automatic selections but who is the third? At the recent London Olympic Games it was Bastian Steger with Germany winning bronze; at the European Championships in 2011 it tended to be Patrick Baum; while one year earlier in 2010 at the LIEBHERR World Team Championships in Moscow it was Christian Süss.
