by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

On the opening day for Gui Lin, Caroline Kumahara and Bruna Takahashi, it had been a three-nil defeat against the Chinese trio of Chen Xingtong, Wang Manyu and Zhu Yuling; on the second day of action it was the same when they met the DPR Korea combination of Cha Hyo Sim, Kim Nam Hae and Kim Song I.

Caroline Kumahara and Bruna Takahashi experienced defeat at the hands of Cha Hyo Sim and Kim Nam Hae (11-5, 11-6, 11-7); Gui Lin found the solid defensive skills of Kim Song I just too great (11-1, 11-6, 11-2), before Bruna Takahashi after securing the first game in opposition to Kim Nam Hae was not quite able to match the high consistency level of her adversary in the remainder of the engagement (2-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-6).

“It was the worst draw possible, Bruna played two very good matches, yesterday against Chen Xingtong and today against Kim Nam Hae. She showed that she has the quality to play at a very high level; when she was down she was fighting. Caroline played only in the doubles, she played very safely and she played intelligently. Meanwhile, yesterday Gui Lin did well against Wang Manyu but today she played Kim Song I the defender. We must be realistic, Kim Song I was bronze medallist at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, she is a different level, the amount of spin, the changes of spin are quite incredible. Always she attacks well from the forehand, she’s a different class. We lost be can be proud of our performance here in London.” Lincon Yasuda

Thus second place in the group was the lot of DPR Korea with China in first place and Brazil eliminated.

A three-nil win for DPR Korea to conclude their first phase fixtures, it was the same for Romania who were still smarting from their three-one defeat at the hands of Chinese Taipei the previous day.

Daniela Monteiro-Dodean and Elizabeta Samara beat Jian Fang Lay and Parleen Kaur in their opening fixture against Australia (11-4, 11-2, 11-2), before Bernadette Szocs defeated Melissa Tapper (11-6, 11-6, 11-4) and Elizabeta Samara defeated Jian Fang Lay (11-3, 11-4, 11-4).

“If we could have played Chinese Taipei today for sure it would be another story; it was very difficult to start the tournament playing such a strong team.” Elizabeta Samara

“For a long period we didn’t practice, everyone has lots of club matches so we have no time to play together. Obviously, it was different to start the team match with doubles. Of course, we are a little disappointed with a second place in the group because in the quarter-finals we will play against one of the strongest team now China, Japan or Hong Kong.” Daniela Monteiro-Dodean.

Romania finished in second place in the group behind Chinese Taipei; for Australia it was third place.