by Ian Marshall, Editor

Each finished in first place in their initial phase group; Heming Hu surrendered just one game, that being in his second match of the day when facing Tahiti’s Ocean Belrose (11-6, 15-13, 11-2, 9-11, 11-5). Otherwise, there was no blemish, New Zealand’s Dean Shu secured second place ahead of Ocean Belrose and New Caledonia’s Arthur Mas.

Meanwhile, in the corresponding group, New Zealand’s Nathan Xu finished ahead of Vanuatu’s Yoshua Shing, Australia’s Rohan Dhooria and Fiji’s Vick Wu; the one player to cause Nathan Xu problems being Rohan Dhooria, the 16 year old needing six games to secure victory (11-6, 7-11, 12-10, 4-11, 11-5, 11-9).

Focused, in the counterpart women’s event, Jan Fang Lay demonstrated not a morsel of charity; not one single game was surrendered. New Zealand’s Cheng Zhiying finished in runners up spot; third place went to Fiji’s Grace Rosi Yee with Tahiti’s Cyrine Sam ending in fourth position.

First place for Australia, it was the same in the counterpart women’s group; first place went to Parleen Kaur followed by New Zealand’s Zhou Jiayi, Tahiti’s Melveen Richmond and Tahiti’s Sally Yee.

The top three players in each group advanced to the main draw, the first placed directly to the semi-finals.

In the opening round of the men’s event Ocean Belrose beat Yoshua Shing (8-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7); Rohan Dhooria accounted for Dean Shu (11-8, 5-11, 11-4, 10-12, 13-11, 11-5); in the women’s event Zhou Jiayi overcame Grace Rosi Yee (11-3, 11-5, 11-8, 12-10), Chen Zhiying ended the hopes of Melveen Richmond.

At the semi-final stage of the men’s event Heming Hu plays Ocean Belrose, Nathan Xu confronts Rohan Dhooria; in the women’s competition it is Jian Fang Lay versus Zhou Jiayi, Parleen Kaur in opposition to Cheng Zhiyang.

Play concludes in Bora Bora on Sunday 26th May.