Muscat: In an all Russian final, Vladimir Sidorenko won the under 21 men’s singles event beating Artur Abusev in the final (6-11, 11-3, 11-3, 11-7) of the Seamaster ITTF Challenge Plus Oman Open, here on Saturday.
Thus he won his first such title and became the first Russian to achieve the feat since the Challenge Series became separate from the ITTF World Tour.
Previously on the ITTF World Tour four Russian players — Vildan Gadiev, Fedor Kuzmin, Alexander Shibaev, Kirill Skachkov — had won under 21 men’s singles titles.
Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju and Cheng I-Ching, the top seeds, won the mixed doubles title, beating surprise finalists Russia’s Vladimir Sidorenko and Mariia Tailakova (7-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8).
Not seeded, Vladimir Sidorenko and Mariia Tailakova had been required to compete in the qualification tournament.
Satsuki Odo claims gold
Japan’s Satsuki Odo won the under 21 women’s singles title; in the final she beat India’s Archana Girish Kamath in three straight games (11-7, 11-8, 11-6).
It is the second such title of her career; previously she won in Spain in 2017 when beating Russia’s Valeria Shcherbatykh in the final.
Bernadette Szocs on the front foot
One of the leading names of the European game, Romania’s Bernadette Szocs produced some of her best table tennis in the last 16 of the women’s singles event as she powered to a 4-1 victory over Japan’s Sakura Mori (11-5, 11-4, 7-11, 11-6, 11-7). Belarusian qualifier Viktoria Pavlovich also extended her journey in Muscat, coming out on top in a topsy-turvy fixture against No12 seed Cheng Hsien-Tzu (3-11, 11-5, 11-9, 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 15-13).
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