by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

Jesus Cantero and Carlos Machado beat Sweden’s Oscar Perman and Simon Soderlund (11-7, 11-4, 11-6) to secure progress; Carlos Caballero and Guillermo Martinez recovered from a two games to nil deficit to overcome Germany’s Tobias Hippler and Nils Hohmeier (6-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8) to ensure their main draw place.

Both were wins as anticipated but there were outcomes in the Men’s Doubles qualification tournament that did raise the eyebrows. Hungary’s Daniel Kosiba and Tamas Lakatos lost to Korea’s Cho Eonrae and Kim Minhyeok in the final preliminary round (11-6, 6-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-4); Austria’s Alexander Chen and Simon Pfeffer experienced defeat at the hands of Hong Kong’s Kwan Man Ho and Li Hon Ming (11-7, 11-9, 13-11).

The one further pairing to progress arguably against expectations was India’s Raj Mondal and Spurav Saha; after beating the host nation ‘s Javier Bento and Alejandro Calvo, they received a walk-over in opposition to the French combination of Nolan Givone and Andrea Landrieu.

Meanwhile, in the Women’s Doubles qualification tournament, Sara Ramirez and Zhang Xuan beat the French pairing of Nolwenn Fort and Leili Mostafavi (11-7, 11-8, 11-7); an event where matters progressed very much according to status. The one pair to arguably cause a surprise was that of Norway’s Ilka Doval and Laura Pfeffer of France; they reserved their place in the main draw courtesy of success in opposition to Hong Kong’s Li Ching Wan and Liu Qi (13-11, 11-8, 2-11, 11-4).

Conversely for the most prominent Women’s Doubles pairings in first stage action it was success. Korea’s Kim Yoojin and Lee Zion overcame the host nation’s Natalia Miramontes and Andrea Perez to continue progress; similarly, the French combination of Oceane Guisnel and Stéphanie Loeuillette advanced courtesy of success against Russia’s Irina Ermakova and Anna Karpova (11-7, 11-5, 11-7).

Play in the main draw of both the Men’s Doubles and Women’s Doubles events commence on Friday 30th April.