Chinese Taipei’s Yun-Ju Lin and the Korean pair of Daeseong Cho and Yubin Shin put on a show of teenage power in the finals of the Czech Open in the city of Olomuoc over the weekend.
First, Cho, 16, and Shin, 14, won the Mixed Doubles title over veterans Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito of Japan, 3-2, for their first ITTF World Tour victory. Shin is the youngest-ever to be part of a World Tour Mixed Doubles tournament victory.
Cho wasn’t done, either, teaming with Sangsu Lee to win the men’s Doubles in a 3-1 victory over Chinese Taipei’s Cheng-Ting Liao and Lin.
Lin had the spotlight on his own on Sunday, and at 18, scored his first World Tour victory, over German veteran Dmitrij Ovtcharov, 4-1, in his second final. Lin defeated Timo Boll (GER) in the semis; between the two Germans, they had 68 years and 28 World Tour titles to 18 and none for Lin at the start of the tournament!
China’s Xingtong Chen, 22, won her second World Tour title in a row with a tight, 4-3 win over Japan’s Miu Hirano. Summaries:
ITTF World Tour/Czech Open
Olomuoc (CZE) ~ 22-25 August 2019
(Full results here)
Men/Singles: 1. Yun-Ju Lin (TPE); 2. Dimitrij Ovtcharov (GER); 3. Timo Boll (GER) and Hugo Calderano (BRA). Final: Lin d. Ovtcharov, 4-1.
Men/Doubles: 1. Daeseong Cho/Sangsu Lee (KOR); 2. Cheng-Ting Liao/Yun-Ju Lin (TPE); 3. Robert Gardos/Daniel Habesohn (AUT) and Nandor Ecseki/Adam Szudi (HUN). Final: Cho/Lee d. Liao/Lin, 3-1.
Women/Singles: 1. Xingtong Chen (CHN); 2. Miu Hirano (JPN); 3. Kasumi Ishikawa (JPN) and Yalan Feng (CHN). Final: Chen d. Hirano, 4-3.
Women/Doubles: 1. Yuting Gu/Zi Mu (CHN); 2. Miu Hirano/Saki Shibata (JPN); 3. Szu-Yu Chen/HsienTzu Cheng (TPE) and Hayeong Kim/Eunhye Lee (KOR). Final: Gu/Mu d. Hirano/Shibata, 3-1.
Mixed Doubles: 1. Daeseong Cho/Yubin Shin (KOR); 2. Jun Mizutani/Mima Ito (JPN); 3. Gustavo Tsuboi/Bruna Takahashi (BRA) and Stefan Fegerl/Sofia Polcanova (AUT). Final: Cho/Shin d. Mizutani/Ito, 3-2.
