by Wade Townsend

Tristan Flore of France sensationally knocked out the no.2 seed Japan’s Koki Niwa in the Men’s Singles event.

Flore led from beginning to end, taking out the match in six games (11-4, 11-7, 5-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-7).

The trend continued as Japanese wonder-kid Tomokazu Harimoto was quickly dispatched by Korea’s Lim Jonghoon in straight games (11-6, 11-3, 11-7, 11-6). Harimoto looked a shade of his usual self as Lim Jonghoon powered through the usually tenacious teen.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Yuya Oshima came back from three-nil down to defeat India’s Amalraj Anthony  in seven games (8-11, 7-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-5, 11-7) and put a stop to a seemingly invincible Indian team.

“It was my first match so I was nervous. I had a difficult time receiving his serve as he has such a variety. My coach told me when I was down to try too look for rallies and make the match more open.” Yuya Oshima

On the other side of the stadium England’s Paul Drinkhall took control of his match against Russia’s Alexander Shibaev notching up a four-two win (11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 3-11, 11-8, 11-7).

“It was good to come through in that match. We know each other really well as we are about the same age and have played each other a lot in the juniors.” Paul Drinkhall

With the Commonwealth Games being held on the Gold Coast next year, Drinkhall is also using this as a chance to make himself at home in the area.

“Gavin Rumgay and I have a car and are driving around getting used to the area. We’ve been heading in to town and finding some great restaurants and getting a feel for the town, so when we are here in 2018 we will be perfectly relaxed.” Paul Drinkhall

Checkout the full results from today’s Men’s Singles matches here.