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Laurie Phai Pang of France and Kazumasa Ikeda of Japan are on the way to Portugal for the ITTF Junior Circuit Finals after winning the Boys and Girls ITTF Junior Circuit in New Caledonia. The US$1000 prize money and the traditional carvings for the winners was an added bonus for the happy winners.

In the early rounds several of the more favoured players lost to "local" Oceania players. Robert Frank of Australia came from 0-2 against Johan Olofsson of Sweden, to gain a strong 3-2 win, using great variation in defence blocking and counter attack, while Andy Shih also of Australia had a solid 3-1 win over Chan Yun Hang of Hong Kong.

In the last 16, Kazumasa Ikeda of Japan caused his first upset defeating No 1 seed Remy Vary of France, reversing his teams match loss to win comfortably 4-1.

Kyle Davis of Australia continued his good tournament by easily accounting for Hong Kong’s Chan Yun Hang,4-0.

The quarter finals featured all 4 Japanese players, with only No 2 seed Emmanuel Lebesson of France surviving the Japanese onslaught, coming from 2-3 down to win a thrilling encounter, 4-3 against Takashi Ishizaki .

In the other quarters a pumped up Kazumasa of Japan was unstoppable, after his win over the No1 seed in the previous round, ending the run of Kyle Davis,4-0, while pocket dynamo, 13 year old, Kenta Matsudaira easily accounted for Hong Kong No 2, Tai Man Suen, 4-1. Shoki Morita had a comfortable win over Hong Kong’s Li Kwun Ngai, 4-1 to complete the quarters.

Kazumasa Ikeda continued his good form in the semis with too much power and variation for Matsudaira winning 4-0.

In the other semi, pengripper, Shoki Morita won a tense, high standard, seesawing match over Emmanuel Lebesson, 4-2 to set up an all Japan final. The crucial game being at 2-2 which went to Morita 15-13 after Lebesson held several game points.

The final was all Kazumasa Ikeda show.A new star is definitely emerging in Kazumasa Ikeda. Showing great composure, fighting spirit and playing a very innovative and versatile game, switching between pimples and sponge, he dominated the final. Racing to a 2-0 lead, the Ikeda train was derailed for 2 games as Morita drew level. This was however only temporary as Ikeda booked his Portugal ticket for the ITTF Junior Circuit in his first attempt, 4-2.

"I am just very happy at the moment and haven’t thought much about the finals" said a shy and polite Ikeda clearly not used to the attention, but something based on this tournament he may have to learn to get used to.

Hailing from Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan, his coach Mr Takao Nohira will be no doubt pleased. "I have been training very hard in Japan, but right now I just feel red-faced and out of words".

A boy of few words, who let his racket do the talking.

Watch out for Kazumasa Ikeda of Japan in Portugal!

Girls Singles

In the early rounds, Sophie Shu of New Zealand scored a good win over Hong Kong’s Chan Suet Yan 3-0 to gain a quarter final berth, while all other seeds progressed to the last 8.

The girls quarter finals were also contested by 4 Japanese, but this time after the quarters were complete only No1 seed, Nozomi Hasama remained.

Laurie Phai Pang of France continued her good form racing to a 3-0 lead against Japanese No 2, Hitomi Hara, before winning 4-2.

Teammate, Nathalie Cahoreau, also played strongly winning 4-2 over Misato Arisaka of Japan, 4-2.

The match of the round though was No 3 seed Yu Kwok See of Hong Kong coming from 0-2 down to win 4-3 over Japan’s Sayaka Oda.

Yu also started slowly in her semi against Nathalie Cahoreau before lifting to win 4-2, Cahoreau having survived 3 of the 4 match points at 10-6 in the last game.

In the other semi, Laurie Phai Pong of France demolished No 1 seed Nozomi Hasama in the first 2 games, before Hasama dug deep to level at 2-2. Phai Pong again lifted to take the match 4-2 with heavily spun topspins from both wings.

In the final Phai Pong drew on her experience of several ITTF Junior Circuit finals to again race out to a 2-0 lead against a nervous Yu Kwok See of Hong Kong.

See regained her composure to take the third but the power backhand topspin of Phai Pang together with her strong pivots and forehand topspin gave her a 3-1 and 10-6 lead.

On the seventh straight match point, a relieved Laurie Phai Pang booked her ticket to the ITTF Junior Circuit finals in Portugal, 14-12 and 4-1.

French coach Stephane Hucliez, used his timeout early at 11-11 in the 4^th game. "This was a pivotal time in the match, Laurie was rushing a little, and there is a huge difference between 2-2 and 3-1". His judgement proved right, though after 6 match points he must have been wondering. Laurie added "I was not nervous, but just focused on playing my game". This is the second gold medal at ITTF Junior Circuit events in 2004 for Phai Pang having taken the doubles in Sweden.

"All my matches I started extremely well here. I spend 5 minutes by myself focusing on the match and that has worked very well here". "In Portugal, I will go there with no expectations other than to do the best I can" says the likeable and level headed Phai Pang.

"The experience I have gained over the last 2 years in the ITTF Junior Circuit has helped me a lot".

Stephane Hucliez is very satisfied with his team’s performance. "We came here with the aim of qualifying at least one player for the ITTF Junior Circuit finals. We have done that, and we were a little unlucky to lose the boys semi final.

I am sure we will see more of Phai Pang this year and in years to come.

Lessons learnt and games analysed led to both boys and girls team results being reversed in the doubles. France and Japan again the victors, but this time the two left handers, Lebesson and Revy with a style that can only draw comparisons with Gatien-Chila, winning out in the boys, as did Hara and Hasama from Japan over their team victors, Cahoreau and Phai Pang of France in the girls.

Kyle Davis and Andy Shih of Australia caused the only upset en ruote to the semifinals defeating Li Kwun Ngai and Tai Man Suen of Hong Kong 3-1.

Davis and Shih were not finished there though, playing aggressive table tennis against team’s champions Isazaki and Morita of Japan, leading 2-1 and 10-10 before finally succumbing to the power of the Japanese pair, 3-2.

Tops Seeds Lebesson and Vary of France repeated their team match success over Ikeda and Matsudaira of Japan winning 3-0 in the other semi, and playing with more confidence also took the final over Isazaki and Morita, 3-1.

No 1 Seeds Cahoreau and Phai Pang of France avenged their teams doubles loss to Arisaki and Oda of Japan winning 3-1 in the semi final.

No 2 Seeds Hara and Hasama of Japan easily accounted for Hong Kong pair Lin and Yu 3-0 to set up a replay of the teams final.

In the final the Japan team raced to a 2-0 lead with greater use of topspin than in the teams final, which the French girls adjusted to winning the third, before the Japanese took a tight fourth game and the title 3-1.

In both Boys and Girls Teams matches the four seeded teams progressed to the semifinals, though not without some close battles.

Australia took the first match against HongKong in both the Boys and Girls Team quarterfinals courtesy of the much traveled and improving pair of Kyle Davis and Claire Campbell-Innes of Australia

Hong Kong leveled the scores with their No1’s Li Kwun Ngai in the boys and Yu Kwok See in the girls scoring comfortable wins.

The doubles in both matches proved to be crucial, with Hong Kong taking both narrowly in the fifth, before Hong Kong closed out both matches 3-1.

The other very tight quarterfinal was Sweden versus Japan B in the Boys.

Ikeda scored a comfortable win against defender Ericson, in the opening match, before Sweden fought back, with Johan Olofsson scoring a good win over the tiny Japanese dynamo, Kenta Matsudaira in a seesawing match.

In a David and Goliath battle, Olofsson led 2-0, Matsudaira leveled at 2-2 and was leading midway through the fifth before the more experienced Olofsson took control.

So to the crucial doubles, which Sweden led 2-0 and 10-9, and had 8-6 in the fifth game before a Japanese timeout, after which Japan won five straight points.

Olofsson clearly dejected after the doubles was unable to regain his earlier good form and lost comfortably to Ikeda, Japan B 3-1.

In the playoff for 5 and 6, in the boys Sweden scored a tight 3-2 win over Australia, with Kyle Davis again impressing with a win over Sebastian Andersson, and narrowly losing to Gustaf Ericson.

Australia defeated New Zealand 3-1 with Claire Campbell-Innes of Australia proving too strong, taking 2 matches.

Both boys and girls semi finals saw France defeat Japan B, and Japan A defeat Hong Kong.

In the girls semi, Japan B had no answer to the strong topspin attack from both forehand and backhand of Nathalie Cahoreau and Laurie Phai Pang of France.

Japan took the doubles, before Phai Pang closed out the match for France.

In the other girls semi, No 2 seed for the tournament, Yu Kwok See won the only match for Hong Kong, before losing to No 1 seed, Hasama Nozimo of Japan in the final match.

Japan A 3-1.

In the boys semi, Hong Kong was no match for the tough Japan A team, while Remy Vary and Emmanuel Lebesson of France both won very tight singles matches against Japan B before convincingly taking the doubles for a 3-0 victory to France.

In the 3^rd-4^th playoff, Japan B was too strong for Hong Kong in both boys[3-1] and girls[3-0]

Girls: Nathalie Cahoreau’s strong 2 winged attack gained another Japanese victory this time at the expense of Hitomi Hara, giving France the perfect start with her 3-1 victory.

Laurie Phai Pang with 2 victories against Japan B in the semi, and a 1-0 in the teams final was unstoppable against the No1 seed Hasama Nozomi, winning 3-1 with strong topspins and giving France a 2-0 lead.

In the doubles the French pair came from 2-1 down to reverse their poor doubles form against Japan B, winning a thriller,3-2 and taking the teams gold 3-0.

Nathalie and Laurie are no stranger to the ITTF Junior Circuit podium having won the doubles in Sweden this year, while in 2003 Nathalie was runner up in the singles in Egypt and Laurie runner up in Sweden.

"Our results against the asian players had not been good up to now" said Nathalie, "but we have just come from one week training in Japan, and together with training in China last year has helped us a lot". Laurie added "The win has given us a lot of confidence to go one better this time as our main opposition will be Nozomi and Hara of Japan, and Yu Kwok See of Hong Kong. We will see."

A place in the ITTF Junior Circuit Finals awaits.

Boys: Shoki Morita’s fast pengrip attack proved too strong for Remy Vary of France, winning 3-1, while Takashi Isizaki easily accounted for Emmanuel Lebesson,3-0.

In the doubles the trend continued with a comfortable 3-1 victory and a 3-0 storyline overall.

Excellent organization, postcard scenery, together with Pacific Island hospitality made this a tournament to remember.

Hardworking President Patrick Gillmann could barely contain his smile as all fell into place for an excellent championships. Well done Patrick!

Kazumasa Ikeda[JPN] bt Kenta Matsudaira [JPN] 7,6,7,7

Shoki Morita[JPN] bt Emmanuel Lebesson[FRA]-7,9,9,-9,14,3

Kazumasa Ikeda[JPN] bt Shoki Morita[JPN] 9,5,-7,-5,9,3

Laurie Phai Pang[FRA] bt Nozomi Hasama[JPN]9,2,-9,-10,8,8

Yu Kwok See[HKG] bt Nathalie Cahoreau[FRA]8,-9,8,-6,9,9

Laurie Phai Pang[FRA] bt Yu Kwok See[HKG]3,14,-7,11,12

Emmanuel Lebesson-Remy Vary[FRA] bt Kazumasa Ikeda-Kenta Matsudaira[JPN] 3,9,7

Takashi Isizaki-Shoki Morita[JPN] bt Kyle Davis-Andy Shih[AUS] 9,-6,-9,10,6

Emmanuel Lebesson-Remy Vary[FRA] bt Takashi Isizaki-Shoki Morita[JPN]8,-14,10,10

Laurie Phai Pang-Nathalie Cahoreau[FRA] bt Sayaka Oda-Misato Arisaka[JPN] 8,-6,9,6

Nozimo Hasama-Hitomi Hara[JPN] bt Yu Kwok See-Anna Lin[HKG] 7,7,4

Nozimo Hasama-Hitomi Hara[JPN]bt Laurie Phai Pang-Nathalie Cahoreau[FRA]7,7,-8,8

Japan A bt France 3-0

Shoki Morita bt Remy Vary 8,4,-3,1

Takashi Isizaki bt Emmanuel Lebesson 5,6,7

Takashi Isizaki-Shoki Morita bt Emmanuel Lebesson-Remy Vary 9,8,-11,6

Bronze: Japan B, Hong Kong

France bt Japan A 3-0

Nathalie Cahoreau bt Hitomi Hara -3,2,10,9

Laurie Phai Pang bt Nozomi Hasama 8,6,-8,4

Laurie Phai Pang-Nathalie Cahoreau bt Nozimo Hasama-Hitomi Hara -7,6,-10,3,8

Bronze: Japan B, Hong Kong