Salwa Cup Kuwait Open
Russian Teenager Steals Opening Day Limelight
Russia’s twenty year old Yulia Prokhorova was the player
to impress on the opening day of proceedings, Thursday 13th
March 2008, at the Salwa Cup Kuwait Open, the latest stop
on the ITTF Pro Tour.
An efficient performance to beat Egypt’s Bacent Osman
was followed by a sparkling performance to overcome the highly
rated Romanian, Daniela Dodean in a hard fought seven games
encounter. Daniela Dodean currently stands at no.42 on the
ITTF Women’s World Rankings whilst Yulia Prokhorova
is at no. 171.
It was a fine effort by Yulia Prokhorova and her colleague
Maria Zelonova was also in good form, beating higher ranked
opposition; she overcame Japan’s Reiko Hiura to book
her place in the main draw.
A good day for Russia in the qualification stage of the Women’s
Singles event and it was a good day for Korea. Kim Jung Hyun
and Dang Ye Seo both finished in first place in their groups
recording unexpected wins, according to world ranking, over
Russia’s Svetlana Ganina and Austria’s Li Qiangbing
respectively.
However, the success of Dang Ye Seo can hardly be considered
a surprise; one week earlier she had accounted for China’s
former Olympic and World champion, Wang Nan, in the Asian
Olympic Qualification tournament.
Success for Dang Ye Seo and also on the upset trail to reserve
a place in the main draw was Hong Kong’s Yu Kwok See;
she defeated Korea’s Moon Hyun Jung by the narrowest
of margins to ensure promotion.
Meanwhile, in the qualification stage of the Men’s
Singles event there was only one notable upset with Hungary’s
Krisztian Nagy, ranked no. 442 on the global list beating
Slovakia’s Lubomir Pistej who currently stands at no.
102. Krisztian Nagy progressed as the group winner to the
main draw whilst Lubomir Pistej advanced to the preliminary
round where he ended the day with a smile. He overcame Russian
teenager, Mikhail Paykov, to reserve his place in the main
draw.
A place in the main draw for Lubomir Pistej, the sixth highest
world ranked player in the qualification stage of the Men’s
Singles event and it was also safe progress for the five players
rated higher.
Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro, Chinese Taipei’s Wu
Chih-Chi, Korea’s Lee Jung Sam and Choi Hyun Jun alongside
Russia’s Igor Rubtsov all progressed without defeat.
Similarly, in the qualification stage of the Women’s
Singles event the top five all reached the knock-out stage.
There were safe journeys for Croatia’s Tamara Boros,
Singapore’s Feng Tianwei, Wang Chen of the United States
and Korea’s Lee Eun Hee; all remained unbeaten but for
Hong Kong’s Zhang Rui, the second highest world ranked
player on duty in the qualification groups life was more tense.
She lost to Korea’s Jun Hyun Sil but beat Russia’s
Elena Troshneva to clinch first place on games ratio; in the
opening encounter in the group, the Russian had excelled to
beat Jun Hyun Sil
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"Source:
ITTF Press Release