by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

David Xu beat Aditya Godhwani of the United States, the no.5 seed (11-6, 4-11, 11-4, 11-5), to remain unbeaten and secure first place in his Cadet Boys’ Singles group; for Aditya Godhwani it was his only reverse, thus second position was reserved.

Likewise in the Cadet Boys’ Singles event Sid Naresh and Mudit Mahajan both remained unbeaten to top their respective groups. Pride of place went to Sid Naresh who beat Costa Rica’s Alfredo Sanchez, the top seed (11-8, 11-13, 11-4, 11-1); Mudit Mahajan accounted for Devesh Hukmani of Belize, the no.7 seed (12-10, 11-7, 11-3).

Alas for Alfredo Sanchez it was to be third place in the group, Jayden Zhou concluded matters in second spot; for Devesh Hukmani the outcome was even bleaker. He finished in fourth place with second spot being secured by Canada’s Sunny Zhang.

Meanwhile, in the Cadet Girls’ Singles event, a competition in which also first and second positions reserved main draw places, the players to shine were Sabrina Zhu and Lavanya Maruthapandian.

Both remained unbeaten to top their respective groups; Sabrina Zhu accounted for Canada’s Benita Zhu, the top seed (11-9, 11-7, 11-4), Lavanya Maruthapandian overcame Poland’s Emilia Skuba, the no.6 seed (11-4, 11-9, 12-10).

It was for Benita Zhu her only defeat, for Emilia Skuba, there was also defeat at the hands of Canada’s Ivy Bao (11-8, 11-7, 11-6), thus it was third place in the group with second position finishing in the hands of Ivy Bao.

In the remaining Cadet Boys’ Singles groups, as anticipated it was first place for Canada’s Edward Ly and Edison Huang, as it was for Peru’s Joel Cisneros and Russia’s Alexey Perfilyev.

Similarly, in the counterpart Cadet Girls’ Singles competition Emine Ernst and Emma Van der Zanden of the Netherlands concluded matters in first places in their respective groups; a feat also achieved by the host nation’s Isabelle Xiong and Swathi Giri of the Unite States.

Play in the main draw of both events commences later in the day.