by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

A place in the final for Satsuki Odo and Yukari Sugasawa was contrary to expectations; not named amongst the leading pairs, at the semi-final stage they overcame the combination of Croatia’s Andrea Pavlovic and Chinese Taipei’s Wen Rue-Ling, the no.4 seeds (11-7, 11-8, 4-11, 11-7) having at the quarter-final stage ousted a pair very much in form.

They beat Chinese Taipei’s Cai Fong-En and Chen Ci-Xuan, the second round winners over the top seeded partnership of Thailand’s Jinnipa Sawettabut and Any Wang of the United States (11-9, 12-10, 11-9).

In the counterpart semi-final, Lee Ka Yee and Wong Chin Yau had overcome Chinese Taipei’s Su Pei-Ling and Tsai Yu-Chin, the no.2 seeds (11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5).

Meanwhile, in the Junior Boys’ Doubles event, the surprise pairing was that of India’s Anukram Jain and Snehit Suravajjula; they accounted for Japan’s Aoto Asazu and Takeru Kashiwa, the no.4 seeds, in the round of the last eight prior to losing to colleagues Manush Utpalbai Shah and Manav Vikash Thakkar (11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 11-7, 14-12).

A semi-final success for Manush Utpalbai Shah and Manav Vikash Thakkar; in the adjacent half of the draw, in the same round it was success for Feng Yi-Hsin and Tai Ming-Wei. They beat the United States partnership of Nikail Kumar and Victor Liu, the no.3 seeds (11-8, 10-12, 11-7, 11-7).

Play concludes in Otocec on Sunday 24th September.