by Ian Marshall, Editor

In an event where there were two groups in the opening phase, the intercontinental trio, the no.3 seeds, finished ahead of the Chinese outfit formed by Ding Shixian, Han Yunqi and Chi Haowen; the no.2 seeds the Egyptian ‘B’ Team comprising Ahmed Elborhamy, Ammar Attia and Gawad Elherazy having to settle for third position and thus elimination.

Teams finishing in first and second positions in each of the two groups advanced to the semi-finals.

Very much the star of the show was Raegan Alburquerque; the 17 year old remained unbeaten throughout. Against Egypt ‘B’, in a three matches to one success, he accounted for both Ammar Attia (11-4, 7-11, 12-10, 11-6) and Ahmed Elborhamy (11-13, 11-2, 11-9, 9-11, 11-3). Later facing China, he overcame Han Yunqi (11-9, 13-11, 11-5) and Ding Shixian (12-10, 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 11-7) to steer his team to a three-two success.

The one further win against the Egyptian outfit was secured by Jacob Dillstroem in the third match of the fixture, he beat Gawad Elherazy (11-9, 11-8, 14-12); in opposition to China, Oskar Danielsson emerged the hero of the hour. In the vital fifth and deciding contest, he overcame Han Yunqi (11-6, 11-9, 11-6).

Earlier, in the opening fixture of the day, China had beaten Egypt ‘B’ by three matches to one; the one success for the hosts being recorded by Ammar Attia, in the second match of the engagement, he beat Ding Shixian (11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 11-1).

Meanwhile, in the corresponding group, there no such surprises. Egypt ‘A’ with Youssef Abdel-Aziz, Abdelrahman Dendan and Marwan Abdelwahab on duty, the top seeds, finished in first place ahead of the team comprising the host nation’s Moamen Ashraf and Marwan Nader who joined forces with Russia’s Aleksandr Kraskovskii.

Both the semi-finals and finals of the Junior Boys’ Team event will be played on Thursday 25th October.