by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

Jesus Cantero and Carlos Machado suffered at the hands of Korea’s An Jaehyun and Cho Seungmin, the no.8 seeds (11-5, 11-6, 11-5); Carlos Caballero and Guillermo Martinez lost to Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes and Nicolas Galvano, the no.3 seeds (8-11, 11-6, 13-11, 19-17).

Disappointment for Spain but the biggest disappointment was the opening round exit of Carlos Franco and Miguel Vilchez; they were the one host nation seeded pairing. The no.6 seeds, they experienced defeat at the hands of Hong Kong’s Kwan Man Ho and Li Hon Ming (11-5, 11-3, 11-7).

All three Spanish pairs appeared in the lower half of the draw; a half that also witnessed defeat for Aliaksandr Khanin and Pavel Platonov of Belarus, the no.2 seeds. They were beaten by Austria’s Thomas Grininger and David Serdaroglu (13-15, 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 11-8).

A 50 per cent success rate in the lower half of the draw for pairs who had been required to compete in the qualification tournament; in the upper half of the draw it was 100 per cent.

India’s Raj Mondal and Sourav Saha overcame Hong Kong’s Lam Siu Hang and Ng Pak Nam, the top seeds by the very narrowest of decisions (6-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, 12-10); in a similar five games contest the South American combination of Colombia’s Camilo Giraldo and Chile’s Alfonso Olave accounted for the formation of Romania’s Alexandru Cazacu and Belgium’s Lauric Jean, the no.7 seeds (11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 10-12, 11-8).

Meanwhile, in not quite such a dramatic fashion Luxembourg’s Eric Glod and Luka Mladenovic accounted for Iran’s Nima Alamian and Miad Loftjanabadi, the no.3 seeds (11-13, 13-11, 11-8, 11-1); Korea’s Cho Eonrae and Kim Minyheok ended the hopes of the partnership comprising Puerto Rico’s Daniel Gonzalez and Gleb Shamruk of Belarus (13-11, 11-7, 11-6).

The quarter and semi-finals of the Men’s Doubles event will be played on the penultimate day of action, Saturday 31st March.