by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Success against Malamatenia Papadimitriou was followed by success against colleague, Roa Amro (11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 11-9), the win securing first place in the group.
Defeat for Malamatenia Papadimitriou but it was her only reverse, earlier in the day she had beaten Roa Amro (11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 12-10) and thus secured second place and progress to the main draw. Players finishing in first and second places in each group progress to the knock-out stage.
A surprise reverse for the top seed; it was the same situation for Farid Badawy, the third seed; she was beaten by Egyptian compatriot, Ala Yehia. She experienced defeat by the very narrowest of margins, a contest in which having established a two games to nil lead, she was seemingly very much in control. The momentum was not maintained, a five games defeat was the outcome (5-11, 1-11, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10).
Similar to Shad Sameh, Ala Yehia remained unbeaten to top the group; Farid Badawy suffered no further defeats and thus ended matters in second place.
Meanwhile, for the remaining leading names in the Cadet Girls’ Singles event, who in recent months have possessed a world ranking, it was top spot. Tunisia’s Fadwa Garcia, alongside the Egyptian trio of Sara El-Hakem, Hana Mahmoud and Zeina Essam duly ended the day without defeat. However, Sara El-Hakem endured trying times; she needed the full five games to beat colleague Sally Osama (7-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7, 11-5). Sally Osama completed the group in second place.
Problems for leading names in the initial phase of the Cadet Girls’ Singles event; for those whose names have appeared on the world rankings in recent months in the Cadet Boys’ Singles competition there were no such travails.
Tunisia’s Youssef Ben Attia, Algeria’s Abdelbasset Chaichi and Congo Brazzaville’s Regis Kiassi topped their groups in style as did Egypt’s Mohamed Azzam.
Play in both the Cadet Boys’ Singles and Cadet Girls’ Singles events will continue on Saturday 14th October, at the end of the day the semi-finalists will be known.
