by Ian Marshall, Editor
Most notably of the next five names in the order of merit, only Yang Zhi-Ying, the no.6 seed and also from Chinese Taipei, survived the opening round; he accounted for Sweden’s Alve Sjoevold, the no.5 seed (13-11, 11-4, 11-2, 11-4), who earlier in the day had finished in second place in his group behind India’s Himnakulhpuingheta Jeho.
The win was no great upset, the demise of the other notable names was more a surprise. Saudi Arabia’s Khalid Alshareif, the no.4 seed, also suffered at the hands of India, he was beaten by Jayabrata Bhattacharjee (11-7, 11-6, 11-7, 11-6). Similarly, Saudi Arabia’s Salem Alsuwailem, the no.7 seed, experienced defeat at the hands of Russia’s Sergey Ryzhov (11-4, 11-4, 11-8, 11-6), Frenchman Thibault Bailliet, the no.8 seed, suffered against Iran’s Mohammadjavad Sohrabi (4-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-6, 5-11, 13-11).
Alive on two fronts
Notable performances especially from Sergey Ryzhov; he is one of five players with medal hopes alive in both the junior boys’ singles and cadet boys’ singles events, the latter event having reached the quarter-final round. Likewise, Chinese Taipei’s Chang Yu-An and Chen Yen-Ting emulated the feat as did Sweden’s David Bjorkryd alongside India’s Aadarsh Om Chhetri.
Notably in the cadet boys’ singles event, Chang Yu-An is the top seed, Sergey Ryzhov is the no.3 seed; the progress was as anticipated as it was for Khalid Alshareif, the no.4 seed. However, there was a major upset; it was not the best of days for Alve Sjoevold; the no.2 seed, he was beaten in the opening round by Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Hsien-Chia (11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-5); in turn he suffered at the hands of Qatar’s Abdullah Abdulwahhab (14-12, 5-11, 11-8, 12-10).
Yet to commence
Meanwhile, in the junior girls’ singles event, the main draw has yet to commence; in the cadet girls’ singles competition, the top two names, Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Pu-Syuan and India’s Suhana Saini were not called to order.
However, the next in line were in action and both emerged successful in their first round encounters. India’s Kavya Sree Baskar, the no.3 seed, beat Jordan’s Rinad El-Hasani (11-6, 11-7, 11-5); Chinese Taipei’s Liang Yuan-Ting, the no.4 seed, ended the hopes of Nilishma Sarkar, like Kavya Sree Baskar from India (11-2, 11-6, 11-5).
Semi-finalists decided
Quarter-finalists known in the cadet events, in the hopes competitions, the semi-finalists have been decided.
In the boys’ singles Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Hsien-Chu meets colleague Chao Po-Yu, Singapore’s Ellsworth Le opposes Qatar’s Rawad Al-Naser. In the counterpart girls’ singles event, it is Chinese Taipei versus Singapore; in the top half of the draw Liu Zi-Fei confronts Chloe Neng Huen Lai; Yeh Yi-Tian plays Gisele Peh.
Play in Muscat concludes on Monday 28th October.
