by Simon Daish
The lowest seeded player in the category, Magdieva came out on top in a thrilling affair with Iran’s Neda Shahsavari, besting the no.3 seed across seven dramatic games (11-9, 14-16, 4-11, 11-9, 11-9, 3-11, 12-10). As a result, Magdieva secures second position in Group 2, relegating no.2 seed Zauresh Akasheva to the base of the standings.
Gufranova’s second win of the tournament ensured her place atop Group 1 with Iran’s Shima Safaei falling to the no.4 seed in straight games (11-6, 11-5, 15-13, 11-7). Magdieva and Gufranova will now battle it out for the honour to represent their country in the regional final, while the other semi-final fixture pits Shahsavari against the no.1 seed from Kazakhstan, Anastassiya Lavrova.
A perfect record from her three women’s singles South East Asia group matches, Thailand’s Orawan Paranang heads to Tokyo in style with her latest success coming at the hands of Rose Jean Fadol of the Philippines. Making a slow start to the tie, but Paranang soon found her rhythm and from that point on was never going to be stopped (11-13, 11-3, 11-5, 11-2, 11-6).
The other group encounter saw Fadol’s fellow compatriot Jannah Romero end her campaign on a positive note, powering past Indonesia’s Siti Aminah in four games (11-9, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8).
Suffering an unexpected loss at the hands of Singapore’s Clarence Chew on the opening day of play in Group 2 of the men’s singles South East Asia event, Thailand’s Padasak Tanviriyavechakul made amends on day two with victory over John Russel Misal of the Philippines (11-5, 11-5, 11-5, 19-17).
However, top spot in the group is reserved for Clarence Chew after the no.3 seed successfully made it three wins from three. Meeting Indonesia’s Deepash Bhagwani in the closing round of group fixtures, it was by no means one-way traffic with Chew forced down to the wire in games one and three. But in the end it was the Singaporean player who left the court the happier of the two (16-14, 11-2, 13-11, 11-8).
Chew moves through to the South East Asia stage two semi-finals where a tie with another Indonesian awaits following Rafanael Nikola Niman’s six-game victory over Jann Mari Nayre of the Philippines (11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 12-10, 1-11, 11-9). The other semi-final sees Padasak Tanviriyavechakul oppose the top seed from Singapore, Pang Yew En Koen.
An all-Iranian semi-final has been set up in the Central Asia region with Nima Alamian and Noshad Alamiyan prevailing in their respective head-to-heads with Uzbekistan’s Elmurod Kholikov (11-2, 11-8, 11-8, 11-2) and Kyrgyzstan’s Azamat Ergeshov (11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-6). Third seed Zokhid Kenjaev also extends his stay, with the Uzbekistan competitor beating Kazakh counterpart Aidos Kenzhigulov (11-2, 11-7, 11-6, 11-5).
