by Neha Aggarwal
In Group F, Japan was placed at no.2 position but the girls were strong enough to take out Hungary and Spain ‘C’ in three-nil victories to emerge at the top position in their group. Thus they qualify for the main draw and will now play against mixed team of Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia the quarter-finals..
Maki Shiomi, the singles champion, will not play the team event. The team is comprised of Yumeno Soma, Yuka Minagawa and Satsuki Odo.
In Group A, Belarus had a tough match against the mixed team of Argentina, Thailand and Japan. The mixed team actually lead two-nil, but Belarus did not give up and came back to win the tie three-two.
“We had a decisive and difficult match versus an unusual team. They complicated our chances to advance to the main draw, we were losing 0-2 but we are happy that we could recover and win.”- Daria Trigolos
Certainly it was an unusual team. It comprised of Japan’s Honami Nakamori, Thailand’s Jinnipa Sawettabut and Argentina’s Camila Kaizoji, a combination of the Asian and European style of play. Belarus had a hard task to adapt, which they finally did in the third match.
In the main draw, Belarus is directly through to the semi-finals and will play against the winner of Japan and the mixed team of Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia .
Groups B, C and D saw no troubles for the top teams as Russia, Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia alongside Germany won both their group fixtures to finish at the top spot. Thus they also qualify for the main draw, which starts with the quarter-final matches to be played Saturday 20th May.
In the main draw, two quarter-finals will be played: Japan versus Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia and Germany against Chinese Taipei. The winners will play against Belarus and Russia respectively.
