By Neha Aggarwal
After the commencement of the team matches, the day was reserved only for the boys and girls singles qualifying group matches. Top two players from each of the 24 groups qualified for the knock out stage to join the top 16 players in the round of 64.
Junior Boys
The biggest upset was in group three as Japan’s Yuki Matsuyama, originally seeded 19th, lost to Kim Song II (PRK), seeded 61st in the tournament in a match that went on to seven games (13-11, 11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 6-11, 11-5). Matsuyama played an important role in securing Japan the boys’ team title a day earlier. Although in the other group match he beat Vlastimil Buben (CZE) 4-1 (11-13, 11-3, 11-4, 11-3, 11-7), but because Kim Song II won both his matches, Matsuyama secured the second position and Kim finished first.
In group 11, the positions were decided by the games ratio as all three players won one match each. Antonino Amato -7:4, Irvin Bertrand- 4:4 and Tomas Joffre- 4:7. Such scenarios happen when there is a tie in the total number of matches won, then the results are decided by taking a ratio of the games won. Amato secured the first position and Bertrand the second and marched to the round of 64.
Group 23 also had some surprising results as France’s Leo De Nodrest, positioned at number four in the group, secured the top spot as he won all three matches!
In the other groups, top names such as Ham Yu Song (PRK), Horacio Cifuentes (ARG), Vladimir Sidorenko (RUS) and Kanak Jha (USA) faced no difficulties and secured the first position to march to the knock-out round of 64.
Junior Girls
Similarly in the junior girls, in most of the groups, the top positions were grabbed by the players at the top spot. However, in group eight, Korea Republic’s Heo Miryeo broke the order as she won both her matches despite ranked third in the group.
Additionally, in group 21, China’s Sun Yizhen, ranked fourth in her group, won all three matches and emerged at number one position. Tania Plaian (ROU) secured the second position winning two out of the three matches she played.
However, top players in each of their respective groups, Daria Trigolos (BLR), Bruna Takahashi (BRA), Ho Tin-Tin (ENG), Izabela Lupulesku (SRB) and Kang Dayeon (KOR) all faced no troubles in securing the top position to move to the round of 64 which will be played in a progressive knock out system.
The draw for the second stage has been determined and matches will be played on day six, Monday 5th December 2016.
