TABLE TENNIS/Taiwan duo wins U15 boys' doubles at ITTF World Youth Championships

Taipei, Dec. 3 (CNA) Taiwan's table tennis duo Kuo Guan-hong (郭冠宏) and Hsu Hsien-chia (徐絃家) clinched the gold medal in the U15 boys' doubles event at the ITTF World Youth Championships in Nova Gorica, Slovia on Sunday (Taipei time).

The Taiwanese duo competed under the name Chinese Taipei and secured the victory after defeating Japan's Ryuusei Kawakmi and Tamito Watanabe 11-6,12-10,11-8 in three straight games.

In the first game early Sunday, the two sides were tied 2-2 shortly after the game began, but Kuo and Hsu subsequently scored 5 points to widen the gap and successfully sealed the game 11-6.

In the early part of the second game, Kuo and Hsu were behind 1-4, but then scored seven consecutive points to outscore the Japanese duo.

However, they made several mistakes near the end of the game and were tied by their opponents at 10-10.

Fortunately, the Taiwanese teenagers stayed calm and eventually won the second game 12-10.

In the next game, the Japanese pair maintained their lead in the beginning, but after an 8-6 lead, they made blunders in staging attacks, allowing the Taiwanese duo to score five points in a row to successfully win the third game.

The ITTF World Youth Championships is an annual table tennis competition for juniors under 19 and under 15.

In addition to the U15 boys' doubles gold medal secured by Kuo and Hsu, Taiwan's Wu Jia-en (巫嘉恩) also advanced to the U15 girls' singles semifinals and will face off South Korea's Yoo Yerin, while Kao Cheng-jui (高承睿) will take on his strong Chinese rival Lin Shidong (林詩棟) in the U19 boys' singles semifinals.