Sophie reaches Last 16 at ITTF Belgium Junior Open 2019
Last week we saw Sophie play the Belgium Open where she was looking to improve her ITTF ranking. Sophie started well winning 5 from 5 in the team category with strong wins against the teams from Italy and Belgium with opponents including ARLIA (World No.47) from Italy. This gave Sophie great match practice and preparation for the singles tournament aiming to go further than previous events.
The singles started with Sophie reaching the last 16 where she got a terrific win against a Belarus player RADZIONAVA 3-0 in the last 32 showing great class throughout. Moving into the Last 16 stage Sophie faced a Russian player BERESNEVA but unfortunately in the match Sophie lost the game 3-0 against another very strong and unknown Russian player. BERESENEVA went on to make the semi-finals winning against World No.5 Hana Arapovic 3-0 and eventually losing out 3-1 to a Chinese player LENG Yutong.
In the doubles, Sophie teamed up with Millie Rogrove from Urban Table Tennis Club where they reached the last 16 beating a Brazilian pair 3-0 but then lost to a great Russian pair 3-1.
Overall Sophie had a great tournament getting some great wins and as always a great learning experience playing against the Worlds best. Well done also to Sophie’s brother Zak Earley who went to help coach at the event!