by Wade Townsend
The Under 21 Singles kicked off the day, and it was home ground heartbreak as Thailand was on the wrong side of two five game matches. Both times it was Chinese Taipei that are out ahead. Purit Verakultawan went down against Chin Mao-Cheng in the Under 21 Men’s Singles while and Monapsorn Itapirak was bested by Huang Yu-Wen in the Under 21 Women’s Singles.
Meanwhile the top three players in action in the men’s singles were untroubled in their opening encounters. However the same could not be said in group four. South Korea’s Dongsoo Kang caused a major upset. He was able to defeat Peng Wang-Wei (TPE) 4-2 and guaranteed himself the top place in his group on the first day of qualification.
All eyes should be on group twelve when action resumes tomorrow in the Fashion Island venue. India’s Jubin Kumar defeated Cheng-Feng Yu (TPE) 4-2, however lost to Jasper Merckx (BEL) 2-4. This sets up an interesting scenario going in to the final group match tomorrow; a count-back is on the horizon.
In the Women’s Singles it was also South Korea that once again caused the upsets, while it was Chinese Taipei continuing to draw the short straw.
Yujin Lee (KOR) came out on top against Chia-Hsuan Lin (TPE) in an epic seven game encounter. Lin held a 3-2 game lead but couldn’t close it out. Lee took the remaining games 12-10 and 11-9, securing the win. Meanwhile teammate Jeongmin Choi (KOR) found a simpler route to victory against Hong Kong’s Wong Chin Yau. She saw of her group’s top seed with a 4-1 win.
Matches will get underway tomorrow at 10am local time (GMT+7).
