by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Defeat for Mousumi Paul and Krittwika Roy, it was the same for the other Indian partnerships on duty; Hong Kong combinations made their presence felt.

Doo Hoi Kem and Lee Ho Ching beat Ankita Das and Madhurika Patkar (11-9, 11-4, 11-7), likewise Ng Wing Nam and Minnie Soo Wai Yam accounted for Manika Batra and Mouma Das (11-8, 11-6, 11-8).

Success for Hong Kong, there was also success for Europe; Sweden’s Matilda Elkholm and Hungary’s Georgina Pota combined to beat Sreeja Akula and Archana Girish Kamath (11-8, 11-1, 11-7).

Similarly, in the Men’s Doubles event, it was a tale of woe for India and again by a close margin.

Harmeet Desai and Soumyajit Ghosh experienced a first round defeat at the hands of Hong Kong’s Jiang Tianyi and Lam Siu Hang by the minimal two point margin (8-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-3, 13-11); whilst for Sharath Kamal Achanta and Sanil Shetty in addition to Amalraj Anthony and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran it was a quarter-final departure.

After receiving a walk-over against Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto and Yukiya Uda, Sharath Kamal Achanta and Sanil Shetty lost to top seeds Masataka Morizono and Yukiya Uda, also from Japan (12-10, 11-1, 11-3).

In a somewhat similar fashion Amalraj Anthony and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran departed; they were beaten in the round of the last eight by Germany’s Benedikt Duda and Steffen Mengel (5-11, 13-11, 11-8, 11-9).

Success for Germany and there was more at the quarter-final stage of the Men’s Doubles event. Ruwen Filus and Ricardo Walther beat the French partnership of Tristan Flore and Quentin Robinot (11-4, 11-7, 11-8).

In the one remaining last eight Men’s Doubles contest, Jiang Tianyi and Lam Siu Hang accounted for the partnership formed by Austria’s Robert Gardos and the Czech Republic’s Lubomir Jancarik (11-7, 12-10, 11-7).