A new year of international fixtures began in a troublesome manner for the English hopes at the Austrian Open as most suffered defeat on the opening day in Wels.

Apart from English number 1 Paul Drinkhall, who beat Norway’s Espen Ronneberg 4-2, it was a day of woe for the rest of the English players as a number of losses leave them unlikely to qualify from the group stages.

Although both David McBeath and Kelly Sibley were expected to lose to their higher ranked opponents, both Joanna Parker and Darius Knight joined them in defeat on the opening day of the ITTF World Tour event.

Knight suffered the most painful defeat by not only losing to Dominique Plattner (AUT, 528) but also by only going down 13-11 in the seventh end after fighting back from 3-1 down.

It was also a seven-games defeat for Parker against Linda Creemers (NED, 150) while McBeath and Sibley lost their opening fixtures in six and five games respectively.

Later on McBeath at least managed to win his under-21s opener against Boris Mihailovic (SRB, 867) 3-2 (11-5, 11-13, 11-7, 6-11, 11-6)

ITTF World Tour Austrian Open (Wels, Jan 23-27th) Results

Mens’ Singles Qualifying Groups:
Group 5:
Paul Drinkhall
bt Espen Ronneberg (NOR, 375) 4-2 (11-8, 11-4, 11-9, 3-11, 10-12, 11-2)

Group 20:
Dominique Plattner (AUT, 528) bt Darius Knight
 4-3 (11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8, 1-11, 9-11, 13-11)

Group 29:
Vasily Lakeev (RUS, 130) bt David McBeath 4-1 (11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 11-2, 11-8)
Jan Zibrat (SLO, 251) bt David McBeath 4-2 (11-13, 4-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10)

Womens’ Singles Qualifying Groups:
Group 6:
Oxana Fadeeva (RUS, 100) bt Kelly Sibley
 4-1 (9-11, 16-14, 11-8, 11-3, 11-1)

Group 18:
Linda Creemers (NED, 150) bt Joanna Parker
 4-3 (10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10, 11-6)
Joanna Parker bt 
Anastasia Koltsova (RUS, nr) 4-2 (12-10, 10-12, 11-3, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7)

Boys’ Under-21 Qualifying Groups:
Group 4:
David McBeath bt Boris Mihailovic (SRB, 867) 3-2 (11-5, 11-13, 11-7, 6-11, 11-6)