by Ian Marshall, Editor

Facing the French combination of Célian Besnier and Marius Benchat, after the opening two matches had been completed, defeat rather than victory appeared the more likely option.

Dragos Alexandru Bujor suffered at the hands of Célian Besnier (8-11, 8-11, 11-6, 13-11, 11-6), before Radu Andrei Miron experienced the same fate when facing Marius Benchat (13-11, 11-9, 11-6). It was at that stage fortunes changed, the Romanians won the doubles (12-10, 13-11, 11-9), before Dragos Alexandru Bujor overcame Marius Benchat (11-8, 11-8, 11-4) and Radu Andrei Miron accounted for Célian Besnier (11-7, 11-9, 11-4) to complete the recovery.

Otherwise, it was success without alarm for the leading outfits. India’s Payas Jain and Aadarsh Om Chhetri, the top seeds, duly secured first place in their group, as did the next in line, the Chinese trio comprising Gu Bowen, Tao Yuchang and Xiong Mengyang.

Likewise, continuing down the order, Portugal’s David Bessa and Silas Monteiro enjoyed a trouble free day; a feat also realized by India’s Vishwa Deenadayalan and Divyansh Srivastava. Not to overlooked, the no.6 seeds, the combination of Spain’s Miguel Angel Pantoja, Diego Lillo and Daniel Berzosa emerged unscathed.

Meanwhile, as matters commenced in the initial phase of the Cadet Boys’ Singles event, the top three names, Payas Jain and Tao Yuchang alongside Croatia’s Ivor Ban duly secured first places. However, for David Bessa, the no.4 seed, there was defeat; he was beaten by Spain’s Miguel Angel Pantoja (11-5, 11-6, 11-9).

First place in the group contrary to expectations and there were more; Célian Besnier, Silas Monteiro and Vishwa Deenadayalan, alongside Floris Zur Muhlen of the Netherlands and Poland’s Wang Yimu all secured first places in the respective Cadet Boys’ Singles groups contrary to status.

Play in Guimarães concludes on Friday 30th November.