by Wade Townsend
The Men’s Singles suffered its first major casualty on the opening day of action as qualifier Kang Dongsoo defeated fourth seed Harmeet Desai (IND) in a seven game match 8-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-4, 2-11, 11-7, 11-8. Dongsoo has been absent from the international scene for two years, however he is coming back in fine form and looks likely to make a deep run on his return. Sanil Shetty will now look to avenge his team mate’s loss in the next round.
Meanwhile Gao Ning saw off Daniel Memmi (SUI) in straight games while Yuma Tsuboi (JPN) similarly dealt with Scotland’s Gavin Rumgay, leaving Europe without representation in the second day of play.
It was a strong opening day for Japan as they made it through the first day of action unscathed and without casualties. All their entries progressed to the next round, with Jin Ueda in particular looking sharp. In contrast Chinese Taipei and India were left to trade wins and accounted for most of each others losses.
There was disappointment for the crowd as local hopes in the Men’s Singles ended in the first round. Yanapong Panagitgun couldn’t find the answers against India’s Amalraj Anthony going down in straight games. Supanut Wisutmaythangkoon was able to get a game on the board against Keiya Uemura, but his progress was halted. Uemura now sets up an all Japanese clash at the bottom of the draw with second seed Kenji Matsudaira, meaning we will be losing at least one Japanese player when the second round concludes.
The Under 21 Men’s Singles followed seeding without any surprises. The semi-final matchup saw Japan squaring off against Chinese Taipei in both halves. Top seed Yuma Tsuboi came against Wang Tai-Wei while Hokuto Koriyama ran in to Sun Chia-Hung. Wang had survived a five game encounter against compatriot Yang Heng-Wei in the quarter-final, while Sun was looking for a better performance after losing in straight games in the second round of the Under 21 Men’s Singles in the Belgosstrakh Belarus Open earlier in the month. In Bangkok Sun was unstoppable, winning in straight games against Hokuto Iyama. The symmetry continued with Tsuboi winning 3-1, meaning that we will have a Japan and Chinese Taipei battle in the final.
Men’s matches continue tomorrow at 11:40 (GMT+7) local time. The full schedule of tomorrow’s matches can be found here.
