by Simon Daish
Competing in Group 2 in the Central Asia region, no.3 seed Shahsavari upset the seeding list in her meeting with Kazakhstan’s Zauresh Akasheva, powering past the second seed 4-1 (11-8, 13-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-3).
Shahsavari is now well-placed in her pursuit of top spot in the group, the same can be said regarding Uzbekistan’s Rimma Gufranova over in Group 1. The no.4 seed played catch-up for the majority of her encounter with top seed Anastassiya Lavrova, but Gufranova never lost hope and her determination was rewarded with a six-game win over her Kazakh counterpart (7-11, 11-6, 12-14, 11-3, 11-7, 11-3).
The class of Thailand’s Orawan Paranang was on clear display in her second South East Asia fixture, making it back-to-back wins with her crushing performance against Philippines’ Jannah Romero (11-8, 11-6, 11-8, 11-4).
Singapore’s Clarence Chew has assumed control in Group 2 of the men’s singles South East Asia event, with his victory over Thailand’s Padasak Tanviriyavechakul (11-7, 11-3, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7) propelling him to the group summit. Chew’s fellow compatriot Pang Yew En Koen has negotiated Group 1 with a 100 percent win record, besting Indonesia’s Rafanael Nikola Niman in four games (11-6, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9) to advance.
Central Asia top seed Kirill Gerassimenko of Kazakhstan also moves through to the next stage of the competition following his gruelling Group 1 affair with Iranian no.4 seed Nima Alamian (14-12, 9-11, 3-11, 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-9). Over in Group 2, Alamian’s national colleague Noshad Alamiyan enjoyed his second success of the day, outclassing Uzbekistan’s Zokhid Kenjaev 4-1 (11-5, 11-2, 11-7, 5-11, 11-4) to swing the tide in his favour.
There was just the one match from South Asia with India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta making amends for his earlier defeat with a commanding display against Pakistan’s Muhammad Rameez (11-4, 11-1, 11-5, 11-4).
