It was a good start for the British Men on day one of the Austrian Open in Schwechat with six of the British squad beginning with victories in their qualifying tournament campaigns.
British number one Paul Drinkhall began well with a 4-1 victory over David Karas of Slovakia, while Liam Pitchford also won 4-1 against his Austrian opponent – Martin Heimberger. Andrew Baggaley recorded the only 4-0 win for a British player with his whitewash of Andres Carlier from Chile late on in the day.
There were also other wins for Englishmen Daniel Reed and Darius Knight who beat Martin Szita of Hungary (4-1) and Georgios Fragkoulis of Greece (4-2) respectively, while Scotsman Gavin Rumgay was also among those who won their opening fixture after his triumph over Frantisek Obeslo from Czech Republic by a 4-1 scoreline.
The one blip on the British Men’s scorecard were the two defeats that Matt Ware suffered at the hands of Lauric Jean (Belarus) and Grigory Vlasov (Russia) respectively.
The British women had a less successful opening with just one victory from six matches. That was recorded by Joanna Parker, who beat Lucia Truksova (Slovakia) 4-1 in her qualifying group.
However, that was as good as it got for the girls as Kelly Sibley fell to a 4-2 defeat to Hungarian Eva Braun while the two Welsh girls Naomi Owen and Charlotte Carey both lost twice to cut short their tournament dreams.
Full Results:
Mens:
P Drinkhall bt D Karas 4-1 (11-9, 7-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-9)
D Reed bt M Szita 4-1 (11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 11-5)
A Baggaley bt A Carlier 4-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7)
L Pitchford bt M Heimberger 4-1 (13-11, 11-4, 11-5, 9-11, 11-4)
D Knight bt G Fragkoulis 4-2 (13-11, 5-11, 17-15, 6-11, 11-5, 11-4)
L Jean bt M Ware 4-2 (11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7)
G Vlasov bt M Ware 4-0 (13-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-4)
G Rumgay bt F Obeslo 4-1 (11-8, 11-8, 11-7, 6-11, 11-4)
Womens:
J Parker bt L Truksova 4-1 (11-4, 7-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-5)
E Braun bt K Sibley 4-2 (5-11, 13-11, 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 14-12)
C Kumahara bt N Owen 4-3 (7-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-8, 10-12, 7-11, 14-12)
Lee I-Chen bt N Owen 4-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-2, 11-7)
M Dolgikh bt C Carey 4-0 (12-10, 11-7, 11-3, 11-2)
D Hadacova bt C Carey 4-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-4, 11-7)
For more details head to the ITTF website