South Korea justified their status as the top seeds after they edged Japan 2-1 to clinch the top spot in the Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying Event for boys for the World Junior Team Championship at the Sarawak Tennis Lawn Association (SLTA) centre on Saturday.
Hong Seong Chan suffered a first set scare in the first singles when he lost 6-7(7) against Yusuke Takahashi. However he recovered strongly to win 6-0, 6-0 in the next two sets to give South Korea a 1-0 lead.
Jumpei Yamasaki pulled back a point for third seeds Japan by defeating Kang Ku Keon 6-2, 6-3 in the second singles to force the tie into a decider.
Hong Seong Chan then partnered Lee Duck Hee to beat Yusuke Takahashi and Jumpei Yamasaki 6-3, 6-3 in the doubles to hand South Korea the victory.
In the play-off for third and fourth, fifth seeds India also edged fourth seeds China 2-1, with Sahil Deshmukh beating Zhong Su-Hao 7-5, 6-3 in the first singles while Zhou Xu-Fan claimed China’s only point by beating Sumit Nagal 6-1, 7-5 in the second singles and Garvit Batra-Sahil Deshmukh defeating Zhong Su-Hao and Zhou Xu-Fan 7-5, 0-6 and 7-5 in the doubles.
Finishing fifth were Australia who beat Thailand 2-1 while Chinese Taipei thumped Hong Kong 3-0 to claim the seventh spot.
Uzbekistan whitewashed Indonesia 3-0 to finish ninth and the 11th spot was claimed by New Zealand who emerged 3-0 winners over Yemen.
Malaysia scored their second win in the tournament when they whipped Syria 3-0 to claim the 13th spot while winless Sri Lanka finished last after losing 1-2 to Singapore.
SLTA president Dato Patrick Liew presented certificates to the teams that finished in the top four of the event.
The qualifying event for the girls will commence on Monday where 16 teams are also vying for four spots at stake to qualify for the grand final of the World Junior Team Tennis Championship in Prostejov, Czech Republic in July. -soure Borneo Post
