by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

In Incheon had beaten the host nation’s Cho Daeseong in the opening round before losing the champion elect, also from Korea, Lim Jonghoon.

Defeat for Kirill Gerassimenko but he was not alone; in fact in total, eight of the 16 seeds departed at the first hurdle!

Furthermore, there was disappointment for the host nation; Darko Jorgic, the no.3 seed, the man with the mighty backhand, was beaten by England’s Luke Savill (8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8).

The end of the road for the Darko Jorgic; it was the same for Frenchman, Andrea Landrieu, the no.4 seed; he suffered at the hands of India’s Arjun Ghosh in a contest determined by the minimal margin (11-5, 5-11, 7-11, 11-7, 13-11).

Likewise Chinese Taipei’s laid back Yang Heng-Wei, the no.5 seed and Hungary’s Adam Szudi, the no.7 seed, departed. Yang Heng-Wei was beaten Nandor Ecseki, also from Hungary (2-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-7); Adam Szudi lost to Denmark’s Anders Lind (11-8, 11-8, 11-5).

Defeats for Yang Heng-Wei and Adam Szudi meant that only three of the top eight names booked second round places. Japan’s Kohei Sambe, the no.2 seed, accounted for Korea’s Cho Daeseong (11-7, 11-7, 11-2); Chinese Taipei’s Sun Chia-Hung, the no.6 seed, defeated Thailand’s Supanut Wisutmaythangkoom (11-7, 11-7, 13-11).

Similarly to fly the flag for the leading names whilst Belgium’s Martin Allegro, the no.8 seed, overcame Spain’s Miguel Vilchez (9-11, 11-4, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7),

Devastation and to complete the carnage, the defensive skills of the Czech Republic’s Stanislav Kucera proved too secure for Puerto Rico’s Brian Afanador, the no.11 seed (11-5, 16-14, 11-8); whilst the attacking skills Austria’s Andreas Levenko and Chinese Taipei’s Huang Chien-Tu were irrepressible.

Andreas Levenko beat Germany’s Qiu Dang, the no.14 seed (11-5, 11-4, 11-6), Huang Chien-Tu overcame Romania’s Rares Sipos, the no.16 seed. He prevailed in a hard fought five games duel (10-12, 12-10, 11-6, 5-11, 11-9).