by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Maciej Kolodziejczyk, Jonas Promberger and Thomas Ziller flew the flag for Austria; the crucial contest being against Italy, the no.5 seeds, a fixture in which Maciej Kolodziejczyk, who remained unbeaten throughout the day, paved the way for a three-one victory. He beat both John Oyebode (11-9, 11-9, 11-9) and Carlo Rossi (9-11, 16-14, 11-6, 12-10).
A vital success, earlier the Austrians had experienced a three-two defeat against Israel’s Yaniv Karmazin, Guy Kouchly and Amit Goren; however that was prove the Israel outfits only success.
Top spot for Austria against expectations; it was the same for the Hungarian combination of Csaba Andras, Oliver Both, Patrik Juhasz and David Molnar; the vital win being a three-one success against the combination formed by Algeria’s Abdelbasset Chaichi who joined forces with Iran’s Hamid Shams and Navid Shams.
Notably both outfits accounted for the Argentine trio of Martin Bentancor, Leandro Fuentes and Mariano Mendez, the no.8 seeds; the Hungarians recorded a three-nil win, for Abdelbasset Chaichi, Hamid Shams and Navid Shams it was a three-one success. Victory but as with the Austrians, they did experience defeat; prior to beating Argentina, the three-two defeat was experienced against Turkey’s Bilal Selim Tok, Tugay Yilmaz and Umut Emre Bassan. It was to prove Turkey’s only success.
Hard fought first places, for China life was less exacting; three-nil wins being the order of the day in each fixture, the crucial contest being the success posted against the no.6 seeds, the combination formed by Canada’s Jeremy Hazin who partnered the Azerbaijan duo of Yu Khinhang and Yang Xinyu.
First places contrary to seeding; that was not the situation for the top four teams. India, selecting from Jeet Chandra, Snehit Suravajjula, Manush Utpalbhai Shah and Manav Vikash Thakkar duly topped their group without great alarm as did the Romania combination of Dragos Florin Oprea, Cristian Pletea, Rares Sipos and Mihai Zamfir.
Likewise, it was top spot for the no.3 seeds, the formation of Egypt’s Youssef Abdel-Aziz, Chile’s Nicolas Burgos and the Dominican Republic’s Mariano Lockward, as it was for the next in line, Japan’s Kazuki Hamada, Hiroto Shinozuka and Kakeru Sone.
Meanwhile, in the one remaining group it was first place for the Polish trio of Artur Grela, Lukasz Wachowiak and Jan Zandecki, the no.7 seeds.
Play in the Junior Boys’ Team event concludes on Saturday 17th February.
