by Ian Marshall, Editor

The third round proved the end of the road for Egypt’s Marwan Abdelwahab and Abdelrahman Dendan, as it did for India’s Raegan Alburquerque and Iran’s Radin Khayyam.

Marwan Abdelwahab, the no.3 seed, was beaten by Russia’s Artem Tikhonov (8-11, 15-13, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4); Raegan Alburquerque, the no.6 seed, suffered at the hands of Frenchman Vincent Picard (11-9, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6). Likewise, India’s Payas Jain accounted for Abdelrahman Dendan, the no.7 seed (7-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9); Frenchman Myshaal Sabhi ended the hopes of Radin Khayyam, the no.8 seed (11-5, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9).

A successful day for the top two seeds in the junior boys’ singles event; it was the same in the junior boys’ doubles and cadet boys’ singles competitions.

Lilian Bardet and Vincent Picard, the boys’ doubles top seeds, started their quest for honours by overcoming Bahrain’s Fadhei Abbas and Sayed Hasan Mahfoodi (11-2, 11-5, 11-6); Abdelrahman Dendan and Ahmed Elborhamy, the no.2 seeds, opened their account with success in opposition to the Czech Republic’s Simon Belik and Borek Otahal (13-11, 11-6, 11-6).

Meanwhile, in the cadet boys’ singles event, India’s Payas Jain, the top seed, safely negotiated the opening hurdle by beating Syria’s Ezzo Ajaj Abdullah (11-4, 11-4, 11-6); likewise Simon Belik, the no.2 seed, was in no mood for charity. He accounted for Akshat Jain, like Payas Jain from India (11-2, 11-4, 11-5).

Play in Manama concludes on Monday 11th February.