by Ian Marshall, Editor

At the final hurdle they overcame the India ‘A’ outfit comprising Anargya Manjunath and Lakshita Narang, the result not paying justice to the efforts of the Indian pair, two of the matches required the full five games.

In the opening contest Ding Zige had to recover from a two games to nil deficit, before overcoming Anargya Manjunath by the very narrowest of margins (6-11, 7-11, 11-2, 11-6, 13-11); similarly in the doubles contest, Ding Zige and Zhang Yuhan lost the first two games prior to eventually emerging successful (8-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7). Sandwiched in between, Li Zeyan accounted for Lakshita Narang in three straight games (11-6, 11-9, 11-6).

Earlier at the quarter-final stage the Chinese outfit had beaten the combination of Russia’s Ksenia Khurtsilava and Poland’s Emilia Skuba, before recording a semi-final success in opposition to the partnership comprising Croatia’s Hana Arapovic and Poland’s Wiktoria Wrsozsek.

Meanwhile, in the opposite half of the draw, Anargya Manjunath and Lakshita Narang had progressed to the final courtesy of a three-one success against Romania’s Ioana Singeorzan and Evelyn Ungvari, followed by the same margin of victory when opposing the Greek partnership comprising Malamatenia Papadimitriou and Chrysi Fotiadu.

Notably, at the quarter and semi-final stages Anargya Manjunath remained unbeaten but she was tested. She needed the full five games to beat Evelyn Ungvari (9-11, 13-15, 11-6, 11-7, 12-10) as she did when opposing Malamatenia Papadimitriou (11-7, 5-11, 10-12, 11-7).

Play concludes on Sunday 23rd September with the Cadet Boys’ Singles, Cadet Girls’ Singles, Cadet Boys’ Doubles and Cadet Girls’ Doubles events.