by Ian Marshall, Editor

The no.6 seeds, the Italian outfit formed by Andrea Puppo, Carlo Rossi and John Oyebode experienced 3-2 defeat at the hands of the German selection comprising Kay Stumper, Heye Koepke and Hannes Hoermann.

Backbone of the win was Kay Stumper, he beat both Andrea Puppo (9-11, 11-3, 14-12, 13-11) and Carlo Rossi (13-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5) thus guiding Germany to top spot in the group and quarter-final place.

Similarly, the no.7 seeds, the Czech formation of Frantisek Onderka, Tomas Martinko and Radim Bako experienced a 3-2 defeat when opposing Switzerland’s Pedro Osiro, Elias Hardmeier and Barish Mouillet; a contest in the Swiss trio faced problems. They lost the opening two matches before winning the next three to seal victory; man of the moment was Elias Hardmeier, in the vital fifth match of the engagement he accounted for Frantisek Onderka (11-9, 11-4, 11-8).

Defeats by narrow margins against the team that remained unbeaten and thus secured first place in the group, it was the same for the no.8 seeds, the combination formed by Uladzislau Rukliatsou of Belarus, Sweden’s Martin Friis and San Marino’s Mattias Mongiusti. The threesome suffered at the hands of the Spanish outfit comprising Francisco Miguel Ruiz, Marc Gutierrez and Albert Viladrel. Uladzislau Rukliatsou beat both Francisco Miguel Ruiz (11-4, 11-3, 9-11, 11-9) and Marc Gutierrez (7-11, 11-3, 4-11, 11-2, 11-5) but that was the sum total of his team’s success.

Surprise first places; in the cadet boys’ team event, there was just one unexpected top spot. Poland’s Milosz Redzminski and Dawid Kosmal recorded a 3-0 win against the combination of San Marino’s Andrea Morri and Singapore’s Isaac Quek Yong, the no.8 seeds, to secure first place.

In the remaining groups it was first position as expected. Romania, the Czech Republic, China and Belgium all finished at the head of the group as did France, Belgium and Hungary.

Play in the junior boys’ team and cadet boys’ team events concludes on Saturday 23rd March.