Birmingham Day 8 Match Report
Joshua Stacey started day 8 off for Team Wales in the table tennis hall. Josh faced the number 1 seed Ross Wilson from England in the semi final of the men’s classes 8-10 singles event. Wilson got off to a great start with an 11-1 victory over Josh however the Welsh star hit back and was triumphant 3-1. Josh will face Lin Ma of Australia in the final on Sunday morning at 10.10 am.
Next up were the three ladies, Charlotte, Anna and Chloe, playing in the last 16 of the women’s singles event.Charlotte faced world ranked 76 Sreeja Akula of India.The match went to the wire and unfortunately it wasn’t to be for Charlotte on this occasion who lost 12-10 in the final 7th set of the match.
Chloe was drawn against Jian Zeng of Singapore in her last 16 match.Chloe went out with all guns blazing and took the first set against the world ranked number 60.Despite Chloe’s fantastic start the experience of Zeng ended Chloe’s run in the individual event winning when she took the match 4-1.
For Anna it was a comfortable 4-0 victory over Natalie Cummings from Guyana in the last 16.Anna cruised to victory 11-4,11-3,11-4 ,11-7 and secured her place in the quarter final.
Anna met Yangzi Liu of Australia in the last eight.Liu was victorious over Anna in the team event 3-0 so it was going to be a battle for our very own Welsh 16 year old star.Anna started off well winning the first set but Liu, world ranked 72, dug deep and took the next four sets and confirmed her place in the semi final.
Callum faced Eugene Wang of Canada in the last 32 of the men’s singles event. Callum displayed some fantastic table tennis and the experienced Canadian was lost looking for answers in the first set. Wang reset and from here on in he had the answers to some of the most amazing table tennis from Callum and unfortunately for our Welsh number one this was the end of the tournament for him.
Our two women’s doubles pairs were also on court today. Anna and Charlotte played Christy Bristol and Laura Sinon of the Seychelles in the first doubles match of the day. Our ladies were too strong for the Seychelles pairing and Anna and Charlotte secured a comfortable 4-0 victory.
Lara and Chloe kept the large contingency of Welsh spectators holding their breath until the very end later in the day when they faced the Canadian pairing of Sophie Gauthier and Katherine Morin. The Welsh pair took the first set 11-6 but the next two sets were taken by Gauthier and Morin. Chloe and Lara demonstrated some fantastic table tennis and they took the final 2 sets 11-9 and 13-11 and secured their place, alongside Anna and Charlotte in the last 16 of the doubles event tomorrow morning.