Making presence felt, now Dimitrij Ovtcharov falls at hands of Masaki Yoshida

Six years ago in February 2011, Japan’s Masaki Yoshida was making his presence felt; he won the Junior Boys’ Singles title at the ITTF World Junior Circuit tournament in Sweden, part of the well-stablished Safirs International.

Now six years later on the evening of Friday 24th February, the now 22 year old made his presence felt once again; he caused the biggest upset of the tournament to date.

In the second round of the Men’s Singles event at the Seamaster 2011 ITTF World Tour Qatar Open, he beat Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov, the no.6 seed, to reserve his place in the quarter-finals,

Not seeded, required to compete in the qualification tournament; presently listed at no.72 on the Men’s World Rankings, as opposed to Dimitrij Ovtharov who is at no.5, Masaki Yoshida won in six games (11-6, 6-11, 4-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-8).

Furthermore, the result ended the aspirations of Dimitrij Ovtcharov collecting a trilogy of titles in February. Earlier in the month he had won the Europe Top 12 in Antibes, followed by success in the Men’s Singles event at the DHS Lausanne Open.

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An unexpected result but the results in the qualification tournament underlined the fact that he was a young man in form and gaining in self-belief.