by Ian Marshall, Editor

The no.9 seeds, ever more confident, Irvin Bertrand and Leo de Nodrest accounted for Japan’s Shunsuke Togami and Yukiya Uda, the no.3 seeds to reserve their place in the penultimate round. Most impressively they emerged successful in four games (11-9, 11-9, 6-11, 11-4).

A splendid effort from the French duo, it was the very same from Maksim Grebnev and Lev Katsman; the no.14 seeds, they caused an even bigger upset; they ousted Romania’s Cristian Pletea and Rares Sipos, the no.2 seeds in a full distance five games duel (11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6).

Irvin Bertrand and Leo de Nodrest now meet Maksim Grebnev and Lev Katsman at the semi-final stage of proceedings; in the opposite half of the draw China’s Xiang Peng and Xu Haidong confront Chinese Taipei’s Feng Yi-Hsin and Li Hsin-Yang, both pairs advancing as expected.

Xiang Peng and Xu Haidong, the top seeds, accounted for Japan’s Kakeru Sone and Yuta Tanaka, the no.8 seeds and winners two weeks ago at the 2018 ITTF Challenge Belgosstrakh Belarus Open in Minsk (11-6, 11-9, 11-7); Feng Yi-Hsin and Li Hsin-Yang, the no.4 seeds, ended the hopes of India’s Manav Vikash Thakkar and Manush Utpalbhai Shah, the no.6 seeds (11-9, 11-9, 11-7).

Both the semi-finals and final of the Boys’ Doubles event at the 2018 World Junior Championships will be played on Sunday 9th December, the closing day of play in Bendigo.