by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

Alexandre Robinot after overcoming Korea’s Jeoung Youngsik in straight games (11-8, 11-5, 11-8, 13-11) was beaten by Chinese Taipei’s Chen Chien-An by a similar margin (11-6, 12-10, 11-9, 11-9). In his concluding group stage contest Chen Chien-An lost to Jeoung Youngsik but he extracted one game (11-6, 11-6, 15-17, 11-8, 11-7); it was sufficient to secure first place in the group.

On games ratio it was top spot for Chen Chien-An (5:4), followed by Alexandre Robinot (4:4) and Jeoung Youngsik (4:5).

Life was not too dissimilar for Liam Pitchford. Having on day one, overcome China’s Xue Fei in a titanic seven games struggle (7-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-5, 7-11, 20-18, 12-10), on the second day of action it was defeat at the hands of Germany’s Bastian Steger in five games (12-10, 7-11, 11-9, 19-17, 11-8). On the previous evening Bastian Steger had lost to Xue Fei in six games (11-6, 6-11, 19-17, 11-4, 6-11, 11-3).

Once again games ratio was the determining factor; the final order was Bastian Steger (6:5) pursued by Xue Fei (7:6) and Liam Pitchford (5:7).

However, for Daniel Habesohn there were no pitfalls. On the opening day of play he had beaten Nigeria’s Olajide Omotayo (11-9, 11-6, 11-7, 11-6) as expected, Daniel Habesohn is named at no.64 on the current Men’s World Rankings, Olajide Omotayo is at no.211. On the second day of action the Austrian caused an upset to secure first place in the group. He beat Belgium’s Cédric Nuytinck, named at no.38; impressively he won in five games (11-5, 11-5, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9).

“I felt confident having won the National Championships at the weekend; my self-belief is high. Today I was very safe, I placed the ball well and perhaps that surprised him.” Daniel Habesohn.

In the preliminary round Daniel Habesohn now meets Jonathan Groth.