June 18, 2010
Eyebrows Raised at Indian Open as Romanian Topples Top Seed
 Ovidiu Ionescu who overcame Kim Min Seok to reach the semi-final stage Photo By: Rémy Gros |
Courtesy of ITTF Meanwhile, in the counterpart women’s event; the players to attract the attention were both from Korea. Jin Dal Rae and Kang Mi Soon impressed. |
All four were in splendid form booking semi-final places alongside the players seeded to be present.
Korea’s Jung Young Sik (no.2 seed) and Japan’s Kenji Matsudaira (no.3 seed) duly reserved their penultimate round places; while in the Under 21 Women’s Singles competition, Singapore’s Yu Meng Yu and Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa, the respective top two seeds, duly progressed to the semi-finals.
Problems for Korea
Ovidiu Ionescu (no.5 seed) in fine form, was the player to cause Korea problems; in the first round he defeated Seo Jung Hwa before upsetting the odds by recording a quarter-final victory over Kim Min Seok, the no.1 seed.
Similarly, Chen Chien-An (no.6 seed) showed Korea no sympathy; he beat Yoo Hoon Suk before booking his semi-final berth at the hands of fourth seed, Han Jin Min.
Semi-Finals
In the semi-finals, Ovidiu Ionescu and Chen Chien-An will confront each other while in the lower half of the draw, Kenji Matsudaira faces Jung Young Sik.
At the quarter-final stage Kenji Matsudaira defeated Germany qualifier, Philipp Floritz while Jung Young Sik defeated compatriot, Kim Gang Woog.
Better News
Mixed fortunes for Korea in the Under 21 Men’s Singles event but better news in the Under 21 Women’s Singles competition where they provided the players to cause the surprises.
Jin Dal Rae who graduated through the qualification phase beat Germany’s Amelie Solja and fourth seed, Chinese Taipei’s Cheng I-Ching to reach the semi-finals while Kang Mi Soon, seeded no.5, was in equally impressive form.
She overcame colleague Lee So Bong before defeating third seed, Japanese Yuka Ishigaki, the player who in 2008 won the Under 21 Women’s Singles crown at the Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals in Macao.
Penultimate Round
In the semi-finals, Kang Mi Soon faces Yu Meng Yu who ousted Kim Mi Jeong (no.8 seed), also from Korea in the quarter-finals with the lower half of the draw seeing Jin Dal Rae face Kasumi Ishikawa.
At the quarter-final stage, Kasumi Ishikawa halted the progress of Korea’s Kim Min Hee.
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