by Ian Marshall Editor

In the round of the last eight pairs, Sarthak Gandhi and Abhishek Yadav, the no.7 seeds, accounted for Egypt’s Khalid Assar and Mohamed El-Beiali, the top seeds in a full distance five games duel that ebbed and flowed (12-10, 10-12, 1-11, 12-10, 11-7). At the same stage Horacio Cifuentes and Thiago Monteiro, the no.6 seeds, ended the hopes of the host nation by overcoming Olajide Omotayo and Segun Toriola, the no.2 seeds, in a rather less exacting contest. They won in three straight games (12-10, 11-7, 14-12).

One round later it was a different story.

Sarthak Gandhi and Abhishek Yadav experienced defeat at the hands of the French combination formed by Alexandre Robinot and Joe Seyfried (11-9, 13-11, 11-6); not seeded, one round earlier they had beaten colleagues, Benjamin Brossier and Antoine Hachard, the no.4 seeds, in a full distance five games encounter. (12-14, 12-10, 11-8, 6-11, 11-4);

Similarly, for Horacio Cifuentes and Thiago Monteiro it was a penultimate round defeat; they suffered when facing the European combination of Hungary’s Tamas Lakatos and Finland’s Benedek Olah, the no.5 seeds (11-8, 11-4, 12-10). One round earlier, in a similar vein to the Latin American combination, they had beaten a host nation pairing, they accounted for Nurudeen Hassan and Azeez Olugbenga Jamiu (11-7, 11-7, 11-6).

The final will be played on the afternoon of Sunday 12th August.

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