At 10am this morning, junior players from across Oceania took to the courts as the VICTOR Oceania Junior Individual Championships 2019 began. The Fijian pairing of Chang Ho Kim (2018 Youth Olympic silver medallist) and Monica Cham opened the proceedings on court one against New Caledonia’s Lucas Juillot and Sianie Chotan, taking the win 21-13 21-14 in 25 minutes.
“I was really nervous to be the first match on court, especially as it was on the live stream, but it was a fun experience. Me and Chang worked well together as a pair to win against the pair from New Caledonia, and we know what we need to do better in the next round.” – Monica Chan, Fiji.
Tahiti’s Louis Beaubois won his first-round match against Australia’s Thomas Zi Xuan Ng 21-14 21-16 to set up a second-round tie against third seed, Ricky Cheng from New Zealand. The second-round match was played later in the afternoon and proved to be one of the biggest upsets of the day as the Tahitian underdog came through in a three-set thriller 21-19 13-31 22-20.
“There are improvements that I will take with me through to my next match, but I am happy with my performance today. I trained hard in preparation for this event, which is my third time competing at the regional junior championships. I’m extremely happy with my wins and hope to go on to win this event” – Louis Beaubois, Tahiti
New Zealand’s Shaunna Li entered the women’s singles draw as the first seed and didn’t let the expectation exceed her as she won comfortably in two sets against Australia’s Makayla Turner 21-7 21-6.
“I felt quite nervous in my first game as there is a high expectation as first seed in the women’s singles. I played OK but felt like I was still getting used to the courts, lighting and shuttles, but as I hope to get used to this soon. My aim is to win this event” – Shaunna Li, New Zealand
Sydney Go, who is competing in her first Oceania Championships, became the first player of the draw to defeat a seeded player. The Australian recovered from a shaky start to challenge the eight seed from Guam, Sarah Cai, eventually winning 21-13 21-13.
“I played OK, but think I could have done better. I felt nervous and shaky playing on court one as it was being live-streamed and this is my first ever Oceania Championships , but it felt good to win. Now I can get it out of my system and feel more confident in the next round. I want to see how far I can go this year!” – Sydney Go, Australia
Marcus Kong caused another upset on day one as he took on Fiji’s Chang Ho Kim. Kim entered the draw as the fifth seed following a successful 2018 where he took a silver medal home from the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games. However, Kong’s motivation was driven by the opportunity to play on a live-stream court where he put on a solid performance, winning in two games 21-4 21-10.
“I like to please the crowd so playing on the live-streamed court was a great experience for me. It motivated me to play better and I was happy with my win against a Youth Olympian. It was a good opportunity and I am excited to continue competing and will try my best in the next round.” – Marcus Kong, Australia
All the results from day one at the VICTOR Oceania Junior Individual Championships 2019 are available on Tournament Software.
The draws for day two is now available to view on Tournament Software.
