Men’s Qualification Groups Continued

Later on day one at the English Open saw England’s Chris Doran continue in the sparkling form he showed in his first group match to have the entire hall of spectators in awe of his efforts to take Hyun Deok Seo (wr 83) to an exciting climax losing out narrowly 2-4, but boy oh boy did he give it his all.

A similar scenario took place on table 6 with David McBeath having to play Zhongze Liu from Singapore a player ranked 570 places higher and yet showed true grit and fighting qualities to take the match to a seventh leg decider after winning the sixth game. What was truly remarkable was that David had earlier levelled the match at 2-2 by winning that 4th leg 11-0, simply incredible! The fairytale result that we had hoped for did not materialise with David exiting the event losing out 8-11 in the 7th end.

Matt Ware also went out of the tournament at the hands of Emmanuel Lebesson of France, ranked 550 places higher in straight sets but will have gained huge experience from his efforts. Damien Nicholls was crucified and lost his fight to stay in the event at the hands of Jesus Cantero from Spain 0-4 and the same result was passed onto Richard Andrews from another Spanish star in Marc Duran.

The English players who have taken an early bath in the Senior Men’s event at the hands of far higher ranked competitors can gain some consolation in the under 21 Men’s qualification groups that start later this evening.

The full results can be viewed here

By Geoff Ware