by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

Tugay Yilmaz beat Montenegro’s Filip Radovic by the minimal two point margin in the seventh game (11-4, 15-17, 11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 5-11, 13-11), at the same time in what was arguably an even closer duel, Umut Emre Bassan overcame Serbia’s Pero Tepic (11-5, 9-11, 11-9, 5-11, 5-11, 11-8, 18-16).

Similarly Payas Jain endured exacting moments when facing Russia’s Semen Shevinin (11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-8), whilst in the opposite half of the draw Poland’s Jan Zandecki, Iran’s Hamid Shams and Lithuania’s Agnius Kacerauskas alongside the host nation’s Radek Skala were all involved in tense duels.

Jan Zandecki beat Ireland’s Owen Cathcart (7-11, 11-9, 11-2, 5-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-8), Iran’s Hamid Shams overcame Russia’s Pavel Linev (11-4, 11-8, 6-11, 8-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-4); in a likewise vein Radek Skala defeated Romania’s Mihal Pop (9-11, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 14-12, 13-11, 11-9), Agnius Kacerauskas ended the progress of Belgium’s Quentin Jacques (12-10, 5-11, 11-7, 6-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-4).

Meanwhile, in the Junior Girls’ Singles event, life was less exacting in the two required first round matches; Slovakia’s Tatiana Kukulkova beat Serbia’s RadmillaTominjak (8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 11-13, 11-3), India’s Yashini Sivasankar accounted for the Czech Republic’s Tereza Pytlikova (11-9, 11-7, 11-3, 4-11, 12-10).

In both the Junior Boys’ Singles event, the top 32 seeds who received a direct entry to the main event, have yet to enter the fray; a situation which also applies to the leading 16 names in the Junior Girls’ Singles competition.

Play in both the Junior Boys’ Singles and Junior Girls’ Singles events conclude on Thursday 15th February.