by Ian Marshall, Editor
Lola Amelia was arguably the biggest surprise name to progress, after losing to Japan’s Sayuri Mori, the no.7 seed, in the group stage (12-10, 12-10, 9-11, 12-14, 11-5) and thus advancing to the main draw as a result of securing second place in the group, she caused a major first round upset.
She beat Hong Kong’s Wong Ka Man, gold medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Most impressively she prevailed in four games (11-6, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6). Moreover, Wong Ka Ma was in form; in the group stage she had overcome Anzhelika Kosacheva, the no.3 seed (12-10, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6) to reserve top spot.
First round meeting
Second position was the end result for Anzhelika Kosacheva and a first round meeting with Japan’s Sayuri Mio, the no.7 seed; Anzhelika Kosacheva prevailed but only by the very narrowest of margins (11-9, 13-11, 13-11, 11-13, 13-11).
A quarter-final place for Anzhelika Kosacheva; it was as status advised; for Wong Ting Ting progress was not as anticipated. The lowest rated player in her group, she finished in second position losing to Japan’s Maki Ito, the no.5 seed (4-11, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8). A main draw place secured, in the opening round she caused an upset of note, she ended the hopes of Poland’s Krystyna Lysiak, the no.6 seed (11-7, 11-8, 11-9).
Otherwise for the leading names it was progress to the quarter-finals without alarm. Russia’s Elema Prokofeva, Hong Kong’s Ng Mui Wu and Poland’s Dorota Nowacka advanced, as did Japan’s Kanami Furukawa and Maki Ito.
Top eight advance
Surprise women’s singles quarter-finalists but not in the men’s singles event; the top eight names all advanced; the only players to experience problems being Japan’s Takeshi Takamori, the no.4 seed and Korea Republic’s Kim Changgi, the no.6 seed.
Notably in the group stage of proceedings, Takeshi Takamori needed the full five games to beat Hong Kong’s Wan Kwok Ho (7-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-6), a situation that applied also to Kim Changgi when facing Russia’s Alexandr Efremov (11-6, 8-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-4).
Nevertheless both Takeshi Takamori and Kim Changgi advanced the last eight. Likewise but without alarm Hungary’s Peter Palos, Frenchmen Lucas Creange and Antoine Zhao advanced as did Australia’s Samuel Von Einem alongside Japan’s Toshiya Takahashi and Koya Kato.
Play concludes in Brisbane on Wednesday 16th October.
2019 INAS Games: Full results and second stage draws
