Villa Yan wins Waikato Junior Girls Secondary Sports Award

Waikato teenager Villa Yan picked up the Waikato Sports Award for 2006 for the Junior Sportswoman of the Year at the awards function, following her outstanding results in the last year. 

2006 was a "breakthrough season" for Villa Yan.  She won her first open women's singles tournament title, represented New Zealand for the first (second and third) time and she won her first National Singles title.  All this after just four years of play and at the tender age of 14.  With the support of her mother, Anita, and coach, Tom Liu, Villa has developed rapidly since she started playing table tennis only four years ago.  This is a result of her natural aptitude for the game, a sound work ethic intelligent application of her skills during matches.  If she continues to apply herself Villa has a very bright future in table tennis.

Villa’s achievements included:   

Senior Achievements:

• Won Women’s singles Auckland Summer Open
• Runner-up Women’s singles Auckland ANZAC Open
• Winner U21 singles Auckland Summer Open
• Runner-up Mixed doubles Auckland ANZAC Open
• Runner-up under 21 singles Auckland Open
• Runner-up Women's singles Waikato Closed Championships
• Waikato Women’s team at Nationals – with wins against Sophie Shu and Hanna Squire (both played in the NZ Women's team this year, Sophie represented NZ at Commonwealth Games) in senior teams event.
• Ranked 6th in the 2006 TTNZ Women's Rankings

Junior Achievements:

• Won U15 singles National Championships
• Won U15 doubles National Champs
• Won U15 doubles North Island Champs
• Won U17 doubles North Island Champs
• Won U15 singles North Harbour Open
• Runner-up under 15 singles at North Island Championships
• Runner-up under 19 singles Auckland Open
• Waikato Under 19 team at Nationals - team finished 2nd to Auckland,  during the event Villa beat Sophie Shu and the highly rated German exchange student, Sabine Vogelsang
• Represented NZ at the Cadet Qualification event at Oceania Champs
• Represented NZ in the under 18 team at the World Junior Circuit event at Geelong, Australia
• Represented New Zealand in the under 15 team at the World Junior Circuit event in China
• Selected 1st non-traveling reserve for the New Zealand team to World Junior Champs in Cairo
• Ranked 1st in the 2006 TTNZ Under 15 Girls Rankings
• Ranked 4th in the 2006 TTNZ Under 19 Girls Rankings