by Ian Marshall, Editor

Myshaal Sabhi and Dorian Zheng, the no.5 seeds, duly remained unbeaten to finish in first place in their group; the crucial contest being in opposition to the Egyptian combination of Abdelrahman Dendan and Ahmed Elborhamy, the no.2 seeds.

A most impressive three-nil victory margin was the order of proceedings; Dorian Zheng beat Ahmed Elborahamy (12-10, 11-7, 10-12, 11-5), before Myshaal Sabhi accounted for Abdelrahman Dendan (10-12, 12-10, 13-15, 11-5, 11-7) and a hard fought doubles contest (11-6, 7-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-6) brought matters to a conclusion.

First places for France, Lilian Bardet and Vincent Picard having finished ahead of India’s Raegan Alburquerque and Akash Pal; in the one remaining group it was first place for Russia. Lev Katsman and Artem Tikhonov, the no.3 seeds, ended the day in top spot with the combination of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Nikola Mihailovic and Slovakia’a Filip Delincak, the no.9 seeds, in second place.

Meanwhile in the junior girls’ team event, organized on a group basis, the top seeded Russian outfit formed by Kristina Kazantseva and Olga Vishniakova was not called to action; the one unbeaten outfit at the conclusion of the initial contests being India’s Swastika Ghosh and Manushree Patil, the no.2 seeds.

Unbeaten but they almost came to grief; they had to perform a recovery of note to overcome Egypt’s Sara Elhakem and Hend Fathy, the no.3 seeds. Swastika Ghosh lost to Sara Elhakem (10-12, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 11-7), before Manushree Patil experienced the same fate at the hands of Hend Fathy (11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 6-11, 11-6). It was at that stage the tide turned. The Indian duo secured the doubles (11-5, 9-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-8), before Swastika Ghosh beat Hend Fathy (11-8, 11-9, 11-9) and Manushree Patil overcame Sara Elhakem (12-10, 11-8, 12-10) to complete the fightback,

The junior boys’ team and junior girls’ team events both conclude on Friday 8th February.