by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Istvan Molnar commenced matters with a straight games success in opposition to the Czech Republic’s Tomas Koldas (11-7, 11-2, 11-7) but later in the day experienced defeat at the hands of the Slovak Republic’s Markus Tonkovic (4-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7).

Earlier, Markus Tonkovic had been beaten by Tomas Koldas in a full distance five games contest decided by the very narrowest of margins (14-12, 8-11, 3-11, 16-14, 11-9).

Games ratio decided fate

Thus games ratio was required to determine the outcome; it was top spot for Istvan Molnar (4:3) followed by Markus Tonkovic (5:4) and Tomas Koldas (3:5).

Players finishing in first and second places in each group advanced to the main draw; thus for Tomas Koldas it was the end of the road.

One defeat

One defeat for Istvan Molnar, it was the same for Victor Liu but in slightly different circumstances.

He beat Romania’s Darius Toma (11-4, 11-5, 11-2) and Slovenia’s Damjan Zelko (11-4, 11-7, 11-9) but sandwiched in between experienced defeat at the hands of Montenegro’s Filip Radovic (11-3, 11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 11-6). Thus second place in the group was his lot.

Filip Radovic, a Class 10 Para player whose left arm is severed at the elbow, remained unbeaten to secure first place in the group. Additional to his win over Victor Liu, he accounted for Damjan Zelko (11-3, 11-8, 11-6) and Darius Toma (11-9, 11-9, 11-9).

Comfortable progress

Problems for two leading names on first phase duty, for the others there were no such travails.

Notably Russia’s Maksim Grebnev, Slovenia’s Tibor Spanik, Serbia’s Aleksa Gacev and Sharon Alguetti of the United States all remained unbeaten and thus finished in pole position in their respective groups.

Played to conclusion

The main draw of the Junior Boys’ Singles event will be played in its entirety on Thursday 15th September.