Belgians progress, Asians battle it out

Belgian pair of Martin Allegro and Florent Lambiet progressed to the quarter-finals as their opponents from Italy Mihai Bobocica and Niagol Stoyanov were sadly injured in the third set.

Over at Table 1, the Japanese and Hong Kong athletes were involved in an intense encounter, as Yukiya Uda and Kazuhiro Yoshimura came out on top in five games against Ho Kwan Kit and Wong Chun Ting (10-12, 11-7, 12-10, 7-11, 11-7).

Indian pair cannot upset Korean seeds

In a hotly contested match, Indian pair Manika Batra and Archana Girish Kamath came very close to upsetting top Korean pairing of Jeon Jihee and Yang Hauen (8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 13-11).

Winning the first game, Batra and Kamath were looking like they could do something special. However, Jihee and Hauen hit back with three straight games, keeping a strong hold on the match.

Japan’s having good day

Following on from their mixed doubles’ success, Japanese double’s pairing for women continued with strong performances. Miu Hirano and Saki Shibata won in straight games against Singaporean Lin Ye and Yu Mengyu (11-7, 11-6, 11-7, 11-7).

Miyuu Kihara and Miyu Nagasaki had to work slightly harder versus Belarus’ Daria Trigolos and Nadezhda Bogdanova, with the European pair constantly pushing them into the corner of the table for returns. Eventually, Miyuu and Miyu came out on top winning 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 12-10).

Sun rises in time for Japan

Japanese pairings started with aplomb in Panagyurishte, as Tamakuzu Harimoto and Kasumi Ishikawa saw off Serbians Izabela Lupulesku and Aleksandar Karakasevic 3-1 (11-4, 11-6, 9-11, 11-3).

Harimoto and Ishikawa were very strong on the serve, meaning Lupulesku and Karakasevic never really got going. Over at Table 4, Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito did not need to serve as their opponents Hungarian Nandor Ecseki and Dora Madarasz withdrew.

Contrasting start for Korea

It was a morning of polarities for the Koreans at Asarel Arena as one pairing of Lee Sangsu and Jeon Jihee could not match the winning start of their compatriots Cho Daesseong and Shin Yubin.

Top seeds Sangsu and Jihee were up against the effervescent Chinese pairing of Ma Te and Wu Yang, losing two games straight. Despite their best efforts, the Korean pair could not make it count, losing 3-1 (11-8, 11-5, 10-12, 11-6). Meanwhile, Cho and Shin won against Hungarians Adam Szudi and Szandra Pergel in an intense encounter (8-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6).

Let the main stage begin!

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