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It was not smooth sailing for the organiser of the Funchai Junior Open as some of the delegates' baggages went missing at the airport, but was resolved a couple of days later.

The Funchai Junior Open was held in the Mediteranean island of Madeira, Portugal. An ITTF Junior Circuit provides an opportunity for the host association to blood players in the international field.
It provides opportunities to travel, the chance show their worth and many others for the young junior players to strut their stuff.

Leading the local charges are Diogo Pinho and Maria Xiao, representing Portugal. Maria is the daughter of China’s Xiao Daili and Yao Li, former players and current coaches in the development of table tennis in Madeira. Maria may have been born in China but she has live her life in the island of Madeira since as a baby, a fact that is shown in her accent. Currently MAria is in the cadet age group, ranked at no.64 on the ITTF World Junior Rankings.

Diogo Pinho is not from Madeira but he will represent Clube Desportivo São Roque next season, one of the most charismatic clubs in the island, the usual candidate for the Portuguese title. He is a determined young man and sees his move to Madeira in a positive light. Currently, Diogo ranks at no.68 on the ITTF Junior World Ranking list.

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It was business as usual for the very highest rated players in the group stage of the Boys’ Singles event at the Funchal Junior Open in Madeira, Portugal on Wednesday 2nd September 2009.

The top seven rated players on duty all secured top places in their respective groups.

Japan’s Kohei Morimoto and Kento Fujimoto plus Croatia’s Borna Kovac all secured top spot in their respective groups, without surrendering a single game; whilst for France’s Quentin Robinot and Romain Lorentz plus Atsuka Machi (Japan) and Diogo Pinho(Portugal), only one game was surrendered. The local boy, Diogo, was the no.11 rated player on duty.

However, Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan, the top seeded palyer here, it was a different story; he won his group but in his opening contest he was tested severely by Japan’s Yuto Muramatsu, who extended the top seed the full five games distance.

Another three highly rated players did experience problems but finally found success at the end.
Japan’s Masahiro Otsuka defeated Spain’s Alvaro Robles, the no.8 seed, Germany’s Arne Holter accounted for Chile’s Felipe Olivares, the no.9 seed whilst Slovakia’s David Karas overcame Germany’s Christoph Schmidl, the no. 10 seed.

The consolation for the defeated seeds was that they all progressed to the main draw finishing in second place in their respective groups

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Girl's Single Event

Poland’s Magdalena Szczerskowska, seeded no. 2, was beaten by Moldova’s Sofia Polcanova. The latter finished the group in first place with Magdalena Szczerskowska in second spot.
Therefore, both progressed to the main draw.

As for the rest of the seeded players, they have a comfortable passages. Barbora Balazova (Slovakia), the top seeded player, Germany's Sabine Winter and Kathrin Mulbach, seeded no.3 and no.4 respectively there were no such problems. Same for the next three seeded players, Klaudia Kusinska (Poland), Tatiana Ryabova(Russia) and Britt Eerland (Holland), the no.7 seed.

(Note : All news extracted from ITTF News)

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I was told that the media coverage of the Funchai Junior Open is outstanding.

“Good media coverage has always been one of the top priority areas for the Table Tennis Association of Madeira”, said Cirilo Borges, the Press Officer for the Funchal Junior Open. “The privileged relationship established with various parts of the media over the years, has produced fruitful results for Madeira tennis table and at great moments, such as this Funchal Junior Open, this aspect rises.”

Continuing with the news coverage / results of the competition :
The Russian team's baggages went missing upon the team arriving in Madeira. Borrowed shirts, shorts and shoes owing to baggage handling problems at Madeira Airport was the order of the day on Wednesday 2nd September 2009 for the Russian team. Nevertheless, the players have performed well, especially Tiatian Ryabova.

She beat Anna Zielinska and Klaudia Kusinska, both from Poland to book a place in the Girls’ Singles semi-finals on Thursday 3rd September 2009."Our luggage didn’t arrive yesterday, the organizers have really helped, our players have competed in borrowed shirts and shorts; some have had to play in shoes they wore for travelling”, said Andrey Konokotin, the Vice President of the Russian Table Tennis Federation . “For some it was a handicap." “All the players have given their best”, concluded Andrey Konokotin. “Also, it’s a pleasure to be in Madeira, there is always good weather.”

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Asia and Europe are the traditional hotbeds of table tennis with Asia leading at the moment. However, since the introduction of the ITTF Global Junior Programme and the ITTF Development Programme, notably the continents of Africa, Oceania, North America and Latin America have undoubtedly grasped the opportunities given and they are making progress. An example is Chile’s Felipe Olivares who is flying the Latin American flag. He is a talented left hander and the runner up in the Boys’ Singles event earlier in the year in the Boys’ Singles event at the Latin American Junior.

In Funchal, it was a first round exit in the Boys’ Singles for Felipe Olivares; he was beaten in six games by Christoph Schmidl of Germany. Currently, Felipe Olivares is training in Eilenburg near Leipzig in Germany under the direction of Alberto Ammann where 16 players from 12 countries are present.

"The attendance of Olivares in Madeira is to prepare him to play in Europe”, explained Alberto Ammann who clearly believes it is possible to Chilean achieve better results. "He was very nervous, he wanted to show what he can do; obviously he lacks experience in such international tournaments as the one in Funchal" continued Alberto Ammann who was delighted that Felipe Olivares had elected to play in Madeira. “The organization is perfect, all the people are all very helpful and the level of competition is very good”, concluded Alberto Amman. “Next year we will be here again."

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Japan dominated the male events in the Funchal Junior Open, clinching gold in both the Boys’ Singles and Boys’ Doubles events on Thursday 3rd September 2009.

Kohei Morimoto, seeded no.2, won the Boys’ Singles title, whilst Kohei Fujimoto and Asuka Machi, secured the top prize in the Boys’ Doubles competition. At the final hurdle Kohei Morimoto defeated top seed, Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan in six games to secure the top Boys’ Singles prize. He won 11-6, 9-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-9.

However, in the Boys’ Doubles event he had to settle for silver. Partnering Masahiro Otsuka, the pair suffered a loss against their compatriots Kohei Fujimoto and Asuka Machi who won a hard fought six games duel 11-4, 11-13, 11-2, 9-11, 11-6. En route to the final, Kohei Fujimoto and Asuka Machi had beaten the German partnership of Arne Holter and Christoph Scmidl in the quarter-finals before recording a semi-final victory over top seeds, Romain Lorentz and Quentin Robinot of France.

Success against the top seeds and it was a similar scenario for Kohei Morimoto and Masahiro Otsuka; not seeded they defeated second seeds, Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan and Chile’s Felipe Olivares in the quarter-finals before ousting fourth seeds, the host nation’s Diogo Carvalho and Diogo Pinho in the semi-finals.

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Sofia Polcanova(Moldova) and Magdalena Szczerkowska(Poland)fought in the final of the Girls’ Singles event at the Funchal Junior Open on Thursday 3rd September 2009. On the opening day of play, the un-seeded Sofia Polcanova had caused the opening shock of the tournament by beating second seed, Magdalena Szczerkowska in a contest that went the full five games distance.
In the final contest they met again; once again the contest went the full distance and once again it was Sofia Polcanova who emerged victorious, only this time she had to perform the recovery of the day. Trailing by three games to nil with the Polish girl bent on having the last laugh, the Moldovan recovered, the smiles at the end of proceedings were bathed on the face of Sofia Polcanova.
She won 7-11, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8.


Second prize in the Girls’ Singles event for Magdalena Szczerkowska and also in the Girls’ Doubles competition; partnering Polish colleague Klaudia Kusinska, the second seeds suffered a final defeat at the hands of Slovakia’s Barbora Balazova and Andrea Daubernova.

Success for the Slovakians was recorded by the margin of 9-11, 14-12, 11-4, 11-9.