In the hunt for singles gold
Australia remains within striking distance of two gold medals at the World Junior Championships, entering the final day of singles sectional play.
Victoria’s Chloe Stewart and Dylan Fisher lead the charge towards post-section berths at the inaugural under-25 international event after the opening two days, while Queensland’s Sean Igham and Western Australia’s Kristina Krstic also remain well and truly in the mix.
While none of the players will progress through with an untarnished record, Stewart headlines Australia’s campaign for gold on the international stage at Broadbeach, with a one match buffer between her and second placed Scotland.
Also in section one of the women’s singles is Queensland’s Bolivia Millerick, who added wins to her standing in round three and six over Namibia and Hong Kong China to climb to fifth on the ladder with three rounds remaining, and a tantalising encounter between the two Australians set for the final rubber at 3.15pm AEST today.
In the other pool, Krstic remains hopeful of advancing to the pointy end of the competition, but has just two rounds left to make headway in the standings.
The Sandgroper is currently two games behind top placed Jessica Sims, from Wales, and one down on second placed Lesley Gordon, from Scotland; with a potential decider between the Scottish and Australian young-guns poised for the next rubber at 12.30pm AEST.
Fisher sits on second position within his section, with just one blemish to his name after six rounds and a shot differential of +44, with a further two rubbers remaining in the last day of the singles competition, against Guernsey and Cook Islands, followed by a moment of respite with a bye in round 9.
In the opposite side of the draw, Ingham trails closely behind the leaders of his pool, on equal wins with Scotland’s Ryan Burnett and Malaysia’s Mohammad Fairus Bin And Jabal – four wins and one loss – but is behind on shot differential, by 30 and 27 shots respectively.
The singles sectional rubbers will wrap up at Broadbeach today, with the contestants uniting for more mixed-pairs action over the next two days, before sectional rounds commence on Saturday.
RESULTS
Men’s singles section 1
Round 3: Dylan Fisher df New Zealand-1 21-20
Round 4: Scotland-2 df Dylan Fisher 21-14
Round 5: Dylan Fisher df Hong Kong China-2 21-11
Round 6: Dylan Fisher df Japan 21-3
Men’s singles section 2
Round 3: Sean Ingham df Hong Kong China-1 21-10
Round 4: Sean Ingham df Brunei 21-12
Round 5: Sean Ingham df Ireland 21-18
Women’s singles section 1
Round 3: Bolivia Millerick df Malaysia 21-11
Chloe Stewart df Namibia 21-14
Round 4: Namibia df Bolivia Millerick 21-15
Chloe Stewart df New Zealand-2 21-19
Round 5: Chloe Stewart df Hong Kong China-2 21-10
Bolivia Millerick BYE
Round 6: Chloe Stewart df Ireland 21-7
Bolivia Millerick df Hong Kong China-2 21-4
Women’s singles section 2
Round 3: Kristina Krstic df Guernsey 21-3
Round 4: Kristina Krstic df Canada 21-4
Round 5: Hong Kong China-1 df Kristina Krstic 21-19
Caption: Chloe Stewart is firing on all cylinders at the World Junior Championships, topping the tables of the women’s singles section one.
