by Ian Marshall, Editor
Somewhat ironically, the only member of the group to experience defeat was the star man, Hiroto Shinozuka. The previous day in the final against Asia, he had beaten China’s Zeng Beixun (11-4, 11-3, 9-11, 14-12), the contest that sealed victory.
One day later Zeng Beixun extracted revenge; he overcame Hiroto Shinozuka in five games (11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8).
Otherwise, it was top spot for Japan, Sora Matsumisha, only 11 years old being the player to attract the attention. He remained unbeaten, finishing ahead of Poland’s Maciej Kubik, the leading name in the group. A place in the main draw the consolation for Maciej Kubik; for Panama’s Jacobo Vahnish, Egypt’s Mohamed Azzam and Germany’s Mike Hollo, also the top names in their respective groups, there was no such solace.
Jacobo Vahnish concluded matters in fourth place in his group behind Japan’s Yuma Tanigaki, Canada’s Edward Ly and Romania’s Iulian Chirita. Meanwhile, for Mohamed Azzam, he ended the day next in line to Korea Republic’s Hwang Jinha and Nikhil Kumar of the United States. Similarly, for Mike Hollo, third place was his lot, he concluded play behind Chinese Taipei’s Wang Guan-Ru and Sid Naresh of the United Sates.
Testing times for the top names, it was the same for Frenchman, Myshaal Sabhi. He finished in second spot in his group behind Japan’s Kazuki Hamada. In fact of the eight groups only Iran’s Radin Khayyam, China’s Zeng Beixun and Belgium’s Adrien Rassenfosse finished in pole position as their status advised. Canada’s Edison Huang ended the day next in line to Radin Khayyam, Singapore’s Isaac Quek Yong one place behind Adrien Rassenfosse.
Similarly as matters commenced in the Boys’ Doubles event there were problems for highly rated partnerships.
Peru’s Carlos Fernandez in partnership with Jacobo Vahnish experienced defeat at the hands of the North American partnership formed by Nikhil Kumar and Edward Ly (7-11, 8-11, 11-9, 14-12); likewise, the Asian combination of Radin Khayyam and Wang Guan-Ru suffered against Japan’s Radin Khayyam and Wang Guan-Ru.
Opening round defeats but not for the top seeds, Europe’s Maciej Kubik and Myshaal Sabhi accounted for the partnership comprising Spaim’s Daniel Berzosa and Yemen’s Ebrahim Abdulhakim Gubran.
Proceedings conclude in Tottori on Wednesday 31st October.
