by Ian Marshall, Editor

Radin Khayyam and Navid Shams needed the full five matches to overcome the Chinese Taipei ‘C’ combination of Zou Shang-Cheng, Wang Guan-Ru and Tsai Li-Yang, the latter two forming the doubles partnership.

Eventual success and the group completed without defeat but that was not the situation for Choy Chun Kit and Yu Nok. They recorded a three-nil win in opposition to the Singapore ‘A’ pairing of Izaac Quek Yong and Andy Wong Yan Kai, before experiencing a three-two defeat at the hands of Chinese Taipei ‘D’ represented by Kuo Chan-Yin and Chuang Chia-Chuan; a contest in which the latter duo made a quite remarkable recovery.

Yu Nok gave Hong Kong the ideal start by beating Kuo Chan-Yin (9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-8), before Choy Chun Kit overcame Chuang Chia-Chuan to double the lead (11-6, 12-10, 13-15, 11-8). It was at that stage the Chinese Taipei revival began; the doubles was secured (11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9), before Chuang Chia-Chuan accounted for Yu Nok (11-9, 12-10, 11-8) and Kuo Chan-Yi prevailed against Choy Chun Kit (11-6, 11-7, 12-10) to seal the victory.

Success for Kuo Chan-Yin and Chuang Chia-Chuan reserved second place in the group and progress to the main draw. Earlier they had experienced a three-one defeat at the hands of Izaac Quek Yong and Andy Wong Yan Kai; thus match ratio determined the outcome. The Hong Kong pair finished in top spot (5:3), followed by Chinese Taipei ‘D’ (4:5) and Singapore ‘A’ (3:4). Team finishing in first and second positions in each group advanced to the main draw; thus for the Singaporeans, it was the end of the road.

Testing times for Iran and Hong Kong; for Belgium’s Adrien Rassenfosse and Nicolas Degros, the top seeds, there were no such problems. Similarly, the no.4 seeds, the Hong Kong ‘B’ combination of Baldwin Chan Chan Ho Wah and Yiu Kwan To topped their group, as did the Chinese Taipei ‘A’ team combination of Li Hsin-Yu, Huang Yan-Cheng and Li Yan-Jun.

Play in the Cadet Boys’ Team event concludes on Thursday 23rd August.