by Simon Daish

Tenth seeds Germany produced the upset in Group B, topping the qualifying group to progress through to the main draw in Wladyslawowo–Cetniewo.

Luisa Säger proved to be the hero of the match for Germany against Chinese Taipei ‘A’ with her victories over Chen Ting-Ting (11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9) and Su Pei-Ling (11-9, 10-12, 11-5, 8-11, 11-4) keeping the European side in the tie.

Laura Tiefenbrunner then contributed the all-important win in the fifth match against Chen Ting-Ting (12-10, 11-5, 10-12, 11-6) to condemn Chinese Taipei ‘A’ to a 3-2 defeat.

Canada has also progressed through to the last six after the eighth seeded team of Ivy Liao, Alicia Côte and Justina Yeung finished top of Group D with 3-0 successes against Lithuania and fourth seeds Czech Republic ‘A’.

Top seeds Romania and third seeds France didn’t suffer too many problems in their respective groups with both sides booking their places in the main draw, while Japan and Poland ‘A’ also qualified for the next round.

The Cadet Girls’ Team category played out as expected for the most part with all of the top five seeded squads moving beyond the group stage.

However, there were a few surprises as Canada ‘A’, Lithuania and Belarus, the sixth, seventh and eighth seeded team respectively all missed out on the main draw.

One of the biggest stories from the group stage saw the mixed nationality pairing of USA’s Hsieh Tia Lynn and Russia’s Daria Grigoreva edge through Group G ahead of both Lithuania and Romania ‘B’.

The action continues on Saturday 27th May as the four team competitions draw to a conclusion.

Follow the action live on the Official ITTF Channel.

(Photos: Bogdan Pasek)