Irish eyes were smiling, certainly they were smiling in Otocec on Sunday 24th September, 15 year old Owen Cathcart brought the brightest of smiles to the Emerald Isle; in impressive fashion he won the Cadet Boys’ Singles title at the 2017 Slovenia Junior and Cadet Open.
The no.2 seed, he thoroughly justified his high rated position in the tournament.
At the final hurdle he beat India’s Himnakulhpuingheta Jeho to seal the title (11-6, 12-10, 11-3), the 14 year old Indian being very much a player in form; in the second round he had overcome Argentina’s Matias Guadalupe, the top seed (11-6, 11-2, 11-5), before later in proceedings accounting for Hungary’s Mate Oscai in the round of the last eight (11-8, 11-5, 11-5) and Iran’s Radi Khayyam in the semi-finals (11-8, 11-5, 11-8).
Equally, Radi Khayyam was a player to attract the attention; at the quarter-final stage he had ousted India’s Payas Jain, the no.4 seed 9-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6).
In the opposite half of the draw, in the latter stages, Owen Cathcart had overcome Korea’s Park Gyunhyeon (13-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-6), before reserving his place in the final courtesy of success in opposition to Croatia’s Ivor Ban, the no.3 seed (11-5, 11-4, 11-9).
Success for the second seed in the Cadet Boys’ Singles event; in the counterpart Cadet Girls’ Singles competition, it was success for the top seed.
Romania’s Elena Zaharia emerged the winner; at the final hurdle she accounted for Prithika Pavade of France, the no.2 seed (8-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8), having at the quarter-final stage beaten Lithuania’s Emilija Riliskyte (11-13, 11-8, 7-11, 11-3, 11-7) and one round later Chinese Taipei’s Chen Ci-Xuan (11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8).
Notably one round earlier Chen Ci-Xuan had beaten India’s Divya Parag Chitale, the no.4 seed (8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7).
Meanwhile, in the latter stages in the adjacent half of the draw, Prithika Pavade had very much followed the path of Elena Zaharia; in the round of the last eight she had beaten Lithuania’s Kornelija Riliskyre (11-5, 11-7, 14-12), prior to overcoming Chinese Taipei’s Cai Fong-En, the no.4 seed (11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5).
by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
24 Sep 2017