by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

Success for Korea means that they are guaranteed a place in the main draw, however, as to who will join them is very uncertain.

Austria represented by Daniel Habesohn, Stefan Fegerl and Robert Gardos enhanced their chances by recording a three-nil win in opposition to the Polish combination of Jakub Dyjas, Marek Badowski and Patryk Zatowka.

Similarly, India staked their claim but in a very different manner; they recovered from a three matches to nil deficit to beat Croatia. Sharath Kamal Achanta suffered at the hands of Andrej Gacina (5-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9), before Sathiyan Gnanasekaran experienced defeat when in opposition to Tomislav Pucar (7-11, 11-5, 15-13, 11-7).

Matters looking bleak for India, cometh the hour, cometh the man; Harmeet Desai sparked the recovery. He accounted for Frane Kojic (11-3, 8-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-7), before Sathiyan Gnanasekaran beat Andrej Gacina (12-10, 12-10, 11-7) and Sharath Kamal Achanta overcame Tomislav Pucar (11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 10-12, 11-5) to complete the recovery.

The results mean that France, Austria, India and Croatia all have the same number of points; in the concluding contests France plays Poland, Korea opposes Croatia, Austria faces India.

Standings (after four series): Korea 8pts, France 6pts, Austria 6pts, India 6pts, Croatia 6pts, Poland 4pts (one point is awarded for presence, one for a win).