A Hard Work Day for Croatia's Borna Kovac
12/13/2007

Borna Kovac

On 12th December 2007 the World Junior Table Tennis Championships (WJTTC) in Palo Alto, California, began for several athletes that did not play in the team events, in the Singles events they made their debuts.

One of them was Borna Kovac. The sixteen year old Croat started rather weakly in the tournament but improved a great deal. In Kovac's group, the second day will decide who reaches the main draw.

Everything is Possible in Group 16
"I really started very badly", Kovac said after his match against Egypt's Mahmoud Zaghloul. Kovac recovered from 0-2 and finally overcame his Egyptian opponent. "I didn't expect he could win because he is probably the weakest player in our group."

The boys of the Group 16 however play on a very similar level. Frenchman Vincent Baubet lost in five games against Chen Po-Huang from Chinese Taipei in his first match but beat Borna Kovac also in five games in his second match.

Tomorrow's last round of the Boys' Singles first stage matches could become a thriller in this group and Borna Kovac has to beat Chen Po-Huang - perhaps in another five game fight.

Day six will also become decisive for the Australian boys. Trent Carter, Frank Robert and Davis Kyle want to prove that the 15th position in the Team event was not appropriate to their skills.

Swiss Girls in the Main Draw
The most frequently mentioned favourites for the Girls' Singles events all came through the Round Robin stage. The best girls from China, Japan and Europe fulfilled their job mostly without problems.

Day five in Palo Alto however became a bad day for Singapore's Sim Kai Xin Zena, one of the best players of the 2007 World Junior Circuit. The defensive player lost in the crucial match 3-0 against Switzerlands Laura Schärrer.

The second Swiss girl Monika Fuhrer, reigning Swiss Champion, already qualified one hour before Scharrer for the main draw; a big success for Switzerland, competing for the first time in the World Junior Championships.

Source: http://www.ittf.com/stories/Stories_detail.asp?Year=&General_Catigory=general%2C+GJP%2C+Waiting___&ID=14322

Formatted for CROWN by   Marko Puljić
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