Colombia Junior Open -- ITTF Junior Circuit

Matters went very much according to plan in the group stage of the Cadet Boys' and Cadet Girls' Singles events at the Colombian Junior Open in Cartagena on Monday 23rd June 2008.

The top seeded players in both events all emerged successful in competitions that saw a plethora of Colombian players in action.

In the Cadet Boys' Singles event the host nation entered thirty-eight players, each of the nineteen groups possessing two Colombians; whilst in the Cadet Girls' Singles competition there were seventeen players from Colombia in the initial draw.

Each of the eleven groups possessed at least one home nation player.

Cadet Boys' Singles

A challenge from the hosts but no great problems for the stars; in the Cadet Boys' Singles event there were smooth passages for Colombia's Joaquin Villegas and Andres Villamil, Peru's Alonso Shimabukuro and Julio Li Davelouis, Argentina's Adriel di Salvo and Juan Daher, Brazil's Eric Jouti and Venezuela's Marco Rosas, El Salvador's

Cadet Girls' Singles

Similarly in the Cadet Girls' Singles competition, the top eight seeded players all enjoyed a trouble free morning.

Peru's Angela Mori and Maria Soto, Venezuela's Gremlis Arvelo, the Dominican Republic's Eva Brito plus the Ecuadorian quartet of Daniela Andrade, Astrid Salazar, Daniela Chinizaca and Joselyn Peralta all emerged unbeaten.

Enthusiasm

None suffered great heartache but of the stars there was one player who caught my eye, Brazil's Eric Jouti.

The young man from the Itaim Keiko Club in S