by Ian Marshall, Editor
Kanak Jha, the top seed, beat Russia’s Maksim Grebnev (11-7, 11-9, 11-9, 11-1), Manav Vikash Thakkar, the no.2 seed, accounted for Canada’s Jeremy Hazin (11-9, 11-6, 11-3, 11-5).
Meanwhile, Xu Haidong, the no.3 seed and Ioannis Sgouropoulos, the no.5 seed, dented the hopes of Chinese Taipei; Xu Haidong overcame Lin Yung-Chih (11-5, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8), Ioannis Sgouropoulos accounted for Tai Ming-Wei (11-9, 11-9, 11-4, 11-4).
Wins as anticipated but there was one first round upset and close calls. Frenchman, Bastien Rembert, the no.15 seed, was beaten by Iran’s Amin Ahmadian in seven games (7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8, 13-15, 7-11, 11-8), by a similar margin both Chinese Taipei’s Li Hsin-Yang, the no.14 seed and Romania’s Rares Sipos, the no.6 seed, emerged successful. Li Hsin-Ying eventually overcame Belgium’s Robin Devos (5-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 5-11, 11-4); severely tested, Rares Sipos beat Sharon Alguetti of the United States (11-5, 8-11, 9-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8).
A hard fought success for Rares Sipos, for colleague, Cristian Pletea, the no.5 seed, life was less demanding; he overcame India’s Jeet Chandra in four straight games (11-8, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8). Similarly, amongst other leading names, there were impressive opening round wins; Japan’s Yuta Tanaka, the no.7 seed, beat Thailand’s Yanapong Panagitgun (11-7, 8-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-2), China’s Xiang Peng, the no.8 seed, ended the adventures of Nikhil Kumar from the United States (11-3, 11-7, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7).
Defeat for Nikhil Kumar but there was success; in one of two preliminary round Boys’ Doubles matches required, he partnered colleague Nicholas Tio to success against New Zealand’s Nathan Xu and Zhao Yanglun (12-10, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8); on the other, India’s Jeet Chandra and Snehit Suravajjula overcame Australia’s Nicholas Lum and Finn Luu (11-7, 11-8, 11-8).
The second round and quarter-finals of the Boys’ Singles and Girls’ Singles events will be played on Saturday 8th December, three rounds of the Boys’ Doubles and Girls’ Doubles plus the Mixed Doubles quarter-finals will be held. Thus at the end of the day, the semi-finalists in all the individual events will be known.
