It’s about time that the Elevenpoints Blog and Mr Andersson comes to term again and starts “speaking” to each other .. OK, OK I know that the setting this weekend perfectly parked as i am in a hotel room in Falkenberg will help . The purpose for my visit to the wholly table tennis grounds on the west coast of Sweden , a place steeped in tradition and success , you ask ?
Another Close To Karlsson training camp – this time for the very youngest category of ITTF supported athletes ; The ITTF Hopes.
Present in Falkenberg for a week of preparation prior to the big junior and youth showdown ; The Safir International Table Tennis meet are a number of interesting youngsters. In fact we have brought in ten athletes with coaches from five continents to listen and learn from Peter Karlsson this week. New recruits are the hard-hitting and match-savvy Jonathan Ou from Florida , USA – Roger Rao from New Zealand and the indian left-hander Abishek Yadav , whilst others have been around before ; Brian Afanador from Puerto Rico, Fermin Tenti from Argentina and the two youngest paddlers Filip Iljevski , Canada and Aaron Wilson , Trinidad and Tobago. Part of the group are also Pavlo Saragovi from Argentina, Christof Christonov Cyprus and Angelica Diaz from Puerto Rico .
Fresh from only a few start-up sessions on Friday, the International Hopefuls were presented an excellent warm up opportunity as the local tournament ”Vastkustspelen” is organized in the brand new Falkarena over the weekend.
The ITTF selection fared as expected well in the first day of competition , picking up several wins in different age categories. Most impressive ?! Very possible Jonathan Ou who showed plenty of energy combined and a seldom seen stroke efficiency in his bid to win the boys 14 single. Jonathan played a strong game in the semifinal ousting Bryan Afanador in a seven gamer , but fell just short in the final against Christos Christonov from Cyprus .
Angelic Diaz , only ten years old, played with authority the whole day and picked up two wins in the Girls 12 and the Girls 13 singles.
The Karlsson training camp will continue until Tuesday 22 Februari , another nine days of hard grinding work before the ITTF selection moves north to Örebro and the Swedish Junior Open. Dejan Papic experienced Hopes and ITTF coach is assisting Peter Karlsson in the training camp and will guide the coaches during competition.
