by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

First place in the group for Daria Shadrina was thus assured in a competition where there are 12 groups in the initial stage of proceedings with only the players finishing in first places assured progress; four further “Lucky Loser” places are available drawn at random from the players finishing in respective second positions.

Defeat for Maro Degraef; likewise there was defeat for one further player in the Under 21 Women’s Singles tournament who started the day as the leading name in her group. Serbia’s Dragana Vignjevic was beaten by Croatia’s Klara Cakol (3-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-3). However, first place for the Serbian is not out of the question; she now meets Nolwen Fort of France who earlier beat Klara Cakol in three straight games (11-7, 11-9, 11-4).

Problems for Margo Degraef and for Dragana Vignjevic but for the other leading names there were no such travails.

The French duo of Marie Migot and Pauline Chasselin both made a successful start to their campaign as did Spain’s Zhang Xuan, Russia’s Anastasia Kolish, Croatia Dorina Srebrnjak and Serbia’s Sabina Surjan.

Likewise it was a successful start to their campaigns for Norway’s Ilka Doval and Hungary’s Leonie Hartbricht as it was for Sweden’s Tilda Johansson and Marharyta Baltushite of Belarus.

Play in the Under 21 Women’s Singles qualification tournament concludes on Wednesday 11th April.