The race for Commonwealth Games places in Glasgow 2014 took its first big stop-off in Hungary this week with nine English players beginning their 2014 international campaigns at the Hungarian Open in Szombathely.

A Challenger Event on the GAC Group ITTF World Tour, the Hungarian Open provided a great opportunity for the English contingent with a number of the top European and Asian players not competing over the week.

Thirty-year-old Andrew Baggaley made the most of his chance to equal his best finish on a World Tour event after reaching the last 16 on Friday evening. The Buckinghamshire player cruised through his group with back-to-back 4-1 victories before winning a dramatic last 64 match with Tomas Tregler, despite being 3-1 down and facing a match point.

Following that 4-3 win, the English no. 3 beat Borna Kovac in six ends before disappointingly falling to defeat against the Czech Republic’s Michal Obeslo in the last 16.

Three other English players were able to reach the last 32 with Kelly Sibley, David McBeath and Darius Knight all performing well in Western Hungary. Sibley was dominant throughout her campaign until she fell to highly seeded Petra Lovas (HUN, 78) while McBeath and Knight were both produced shocks en route to their last 32 berth – McBeath’s 4-1 win over Jon Persson (SWE, 147) the standout result from the men.

The best result overall though came from 15-year-old Tin-Tin Ho who stunned Nikoleta Stefanova (ITA, 129) 4-1 in her opening fixture, which enabled her to advance to the last 64. However, that was as far as she got as she was met by Japanese world no. 78 Shiho Matsudaira who proved a step too far for the youngster at this stage.

Full results can be seen below from the English players in action in Hungary.

GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Hungary Open (Szombathely, Jan 29th – Feb 1st)
Men’s Singles Groups:
Group 1:

Paul Drinkhall (world rank 134)
 bt 
Kirill Gerassimenko (KAZ, 536)
 4-2 (8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 11-4)
Ewout Oostwouder (NED, 524) bt Paul Drinkhall 4-3 (9-11, 11-6, 9-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-13, 11-8)
Group 6:
David McBeath (564)
 bt Vildan Gadiev (RUS, 430) 4-2 (11-8, 12-10, 12-14, 11-3, 9-11, 11-9)
David McBeath bt 
Jon Persson (SWE, 147)
 4-1 (11-8, 11-6, 11-8, 10-12, 11-6)
Group 12:

Andrew Baggaley (176) bt Lionel Weber (SUI, 663)
 4-1 (11-6, 11-3, 11-7, 10-12, 11-4)
Andrew Baggaley bt Krisztian Nagy (HUN, 447)
 4-1 (1-6, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5, 11-5)
Group 31:
Sam Walker (303)
 bt Andreas Levenko (AUT, 754)
 4-1 (11-13, 11-4, 13-11, 11-9, 11-6)
Robin Devos (BEL, 237)
 bt Sam Walker
 4-1 (11-8, 11-6, 11-7, 11-13, 11-2)
Group 32:
Daniel Reed (235) bt Alexandr Gerassimenko (KAZ, 877)
 4-0 (11-3, 11-3, 11-5, 11-4)
Daniel Reed bt Adam Szudi (HUN, 352)
 4-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-7, 12-10)
Group 42:
Darius Knight (294)
 bt Calum Main (SCO, 1168) 4-1 (11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7)
Darius Knight bt Balazs Fixl (HUN, unr) 4-2 (11-6, 11-9, 8-11, 13-15, 11-2, 11-3)
Darius Knight bt Stanislav Golovanov (BUL, 268)
 4-3 (9-11, 11-8, 10-12, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-5)

Men’s Singles Last 64:
David McBeath bt Filip Cipin (CRO, 416) 4-2 (9-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10)
Emmanuel Lebesson (FRA, 82) bt Daniel Reed 4-3 (3-11, 8-11, 9-11, 11-2, 11-2, 11-7, 11-6)
Darius Knight bt Simon Pfeffer (AUT, 674) 4-2 (10-12, 11-5, 11-5, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8)
Andrew Baggaley bt Tomas Tregler (CZE, 270) 4-3 (7-11, 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-9)
Last 32:
Tomas Konecny (CZE, 125) bt David McBeath 4-2 (7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-5, 9-11, 11-4)
Daniel Kosiba (HUN, 202) bt Darius Knight 4-1 (13-11, 11-5, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9)
Andrew Baggaley bt Borna Kovac (NED, 337) 4-2 (11-13, 7-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6)
Last 16:
Michal Obeslo (CZE, 260) bt Andrew Baggaley 4-2 (12-10, 11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 11-8)

Women’s Singles Groups:
Group 2:

Tin-Tin Ho (376) bt Nikoleta Stefanova (ITA, 129) 4-1 (11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-9)
Viktoria Truzsinszki (SRB, 358)
 bt Tin-Tin Ho 4-1 (11-8, 5-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-3)
Group 10:
Joanna Drinkhall (162) bt Timea Peterman-Varga (HUN, 415) 4-0 (11-9, 11-3, 11-9, 11-4)
Joanna Drinkhall bt Anja Schuh (GER, 325)
 
4-1 (13-11, 11-7, 11-5, 6-11, 11-6)
Joanna Drinkhall bt Rossella Scardigno (ITA, unr)
 4-0 (11-6, 13-11, 11-8, 11-8)
Group 18:
Kelly Sibley (200)
 bt Roza Soposki (FRA, 537)
 4-1 (11-5, 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9)
Kelly Sibley bt Gui Lin (BRA, 292)
 4-2 (10-12, 11-8, 12-10, 4-11, 11-7, 11-7)
Kelly Sibley bt Zsofia Feher (HUN, 1081) 4-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-5, 11-8)

Women’ Singles Last 64:
Yulia Prokhorova (RUS, 188) bt Joanna Drinkhall 4-3 (8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-13, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9)
Shiho Matsudaira (JPN, 78) bt Tin-Tin Ho 4-1 (11-6, 4-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-4)
Kelly Sibley bt Mirella Madacki (HUN, unr) 4-0 (11-6, 13-11, 11-5, 11-1)
Last 32:
Petra Lovas (HUN, 78) bt Kelly Sibley 4-1 (6-11, 11-6, 13-11, 11-3, 11-9)

Under-21 Boys’ Singles Groups:
Group 2:

Sam Walker (303)
 bt Lars Ronneberg (NOR, 711) 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 15-13)
Sam Walker bt Bence Majoros (HUN, 676)
 3-2 (10-12, 11-5, 4-11, 11-8, 11-8)
Last 32:
Romain Lorentz (FRA, 180) bt Sam Walker 3-1 (11-7, 7-11, 11-7, 11-7)

Under-21 Girls’ Singles Groups:
Group 12:

Tin-Tin Ho (376) bt Mirella Madacki (HUN, unr) 3-1 (9-11, 11-4, 13-11, 11-6)
Tin-Tin Ho bt Chiara Colantoni (ITA, unr) 3-0 (11-3, 11-7, 11-8)
Svetlana Mokhnacheva (RUS, 406)
 bt Tin-Tin Ho 3-2 (11-5, 8-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-6)

Written by Russell Moore (January 31, 2014)