Youth Olympic Billiards》Taiwan’s No. 1 player! Chen Yanxin defeated the German World Youth Champion and entered the top four of women's singles

17-year-old Tainan teenager Chen Yixin defeated German teenager Itagaki Shinharu, the U15 women's singles champion of last year's World Youth Championship in straight four games in the top 8 of the 2026 Dhaka Youth Olympic Games table tennis women's singles early this morning.

Itagaki Shinharu was born in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, and moved to Germany with her family when she was 6 years old. Her father is a well-known Japanese table tennis coach, Koji Itagaki, who currently coaches a Bundesliga club. Facing Itagaki with a short backhand style, Chen Yixin scored 4 points in a row after 7 draws in the first game, winning a point at 11:7. In the second game, although he was chased to 8 draws with a 4:1 lead at the beginning, Chen Binxin had the upper hand with his backhand at the critical moment. Coupled with his opponent's error in receiving the serve, he scored 3 points in a row and won another victory at 11:8.

In the third game, Chen Yinxin lost 3 points in a row with a 7:3 lead, and the situation was tense for a while. However, Itagaki missed a chance ball, and Chen Yinxin received two consecutive serves from his opponent. He added another game at 11:7, which also completely destroyed the opponent's morale. Itagaki called a timeout after falling behind 1:4 at the beginning of the fourth game, but he was unable to recover. Chen Yinxin easily passed at 11:4.

Coach Huang Shengsheng said that players with a special style of play like Itagaki Shinharu usually start on the defensive end and are relatively poor on the offensive end. Before the game, he also specially told Chen Yanxin that the winner must be determined in the first three boards and cannot be dragged into the opponent's favorite rhythm. Today, Chen Yanxin did well in serving and receiving the serve, which is the key to winning.

The 13-year-old Songdo Misora ​​also defeated Poland's Rajkovska 4:0 in the quarterfinals. Chen Yanxin has won 1 win each against Songdao twice in the past. The most recent time was in the U19 women's singles quarterfinals of this year's Singapore Youth Grand Slam. Chen Yanxin came from behind with 4:3.

In the men's singles, Lin Jinting first prospered and then declined in the top 8. He was reversed by 15-year-old Hong Kong teenager Li Qihao at 11:3, 8:11, 10:12, 12:14, 9:11, and missed the chance to advance to the top four.