England’s men made storming progress at the 2012 Liebherr WTTTC in Dortmund as their female counterparts wobbled on day two.
Including Sunday’s 3-0 victory over Cuba, the men comfortably saw off both Venezuela (3-0) and Argentina (3-0) to set up a potentially decisive match tomorrow against the dangerous second seeds Egypt.
The match tomorrow between the two unbeaten sides should result in a promotion push for the victors. It won’t be easy though as Ahmed Ali Saleh (121), El-Sayed Lashin (137) and Omar Assar (145) await at 6pm GMT.
England will go into the match in confidence, however, after a flawless first two days in which they only dropped four games in total out of the eight matches.
The women’s team, on the other hand, found the going tough as they were unable to build on their 3-0 win on Sunday against Estonia.
A marathon match against India, lasting over three hours, ended in heartbreak for the English girls as Mouma Das (228) secured victories over both Joanna Parker and Kelly Sibley to give the Indians a 3-2 win.
The day did end with light at the end of the tunnel though as a nervy 3-2 win over Nigeria means the women can still progress to fight out the higher positions with wins over Italy and Israel on Tuesday and Wednesday.
It won’t be easy but at least they have the chance. It came down to Kelly Sibley’s 3-2 win over Olufunke Oshonaike (Her fourth five-game match out of five). She trailed 2-0 but fought back to claim the last three games 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 to ensure there’s still plenty to fight for.
Men
England 3-0 Cuba
P Drinkhall bt Andy Pereira (246) 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-4)
L Pitchford bt Jorge Campos (425) 3-1 (7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7)
A Baggaley bt Yohan Mora (u/r) Walkover
England 3–0 Venezuela
A Baggaley bt Henry Mujica (439) 3-0 (11-4, 11-5, 11-5)
P Drinkhall bt Marco Navas (413) 3-2 (11-4, 11-6, 3-11, 6-11, 11-1)
D Reed bt C Correa (u/r) 3-1 (6-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7)
England 3-0 Argentina
P Drinkhall bt Pablo Tabachnik (391) 3-0 (11-7, 11-1, 11-3)
L Pitchford bt Gaston Alto (306) 3-1 (11-13, 11-4, 11-7, 16-14)
A Baggaley bt Rodrigo Gilabert (717) 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-9)
Women
England 3-0 Estonia
K Sibley bt Tatjana Tsistjakova (343) 3-2 (7-11, 5-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-8)
J Parker bt Valeria Petrova (619) 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-8)
H Hicks bt Olesja Ketsko (674) 3-1 (6-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-7)
England 2–3 India
J Parker bt Shamini Kumaresan (254) 3-1 (4-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-2)
Mouma Das (228) bt K Sibley 3-2 (11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-6)
Poulomi Ghatak (268) bt H Hicks 3-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-9)
K Sibley bt Shamini Kumaresan 3-2 (11-6, 15-13, 7-11, 8-11, 11-8)
Mouma Das bt J Parker 3-1 (11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 11-7)
England 3–2 Nigeria
K Sibley bt Offiong Edem (287) 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 13-11)
Olufunke Oshonaike (291) bt J Parker 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-6)
Cecilia Akpan (442) bt H Hicks 3-0 (11-5, 12-10, 12-10)
J Parker bt Offiong Edem 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-3)
K Sibley bt Olufunke Oshonaike 3-2 (5-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7)
