Six out of seven England players made it through to the main draw of the singles events at the Commonwealth Championships in India.
David McBeath, Helshan Weerasinghe and Alex Ramsden all had 100% records to win their groups in the men’s singles, a feat matched by Karina Le Fevre and Maria Tsaptsinos in the women’s singles. They will join Tin-Tin Ho, who was seeded straight into the main draw.
Ramsden’s group victory was particularly notable as the 15-year-old saw off Rohan Sirisena of Sri Lanka in four games in the pivotal clash – his 33-year-old opponent is ranked No 447 in the world against Ramsden’s ranking of No 806.
The only player to miss out was Tom Jarvis, who won two of his three group matches but could find no way past Abhishek Yadav of the host nation, who is ranked almost 100 places above him on the world list.
In the doubles, however, the only English pair left in are Tin-Tin Ho & Maria Tsaptsinos, who are into the quarter-finals of the women’s event.
David McBeath & Karina Le Fevre reached the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles with a brilliant comeback to beat Harmeet Desai & Pooja Sahasrabudhe from 2-1 down – taking the fourth 16-14 – but they exited to another Indian pair, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran & Ankita Das, at the next stage.
The knockout stages continue tomorrow.
Results
Men’s Singles
Group 3
David McBeath bt Calum Main (SCO) 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-8)
McBeath bt Zak Wilson (IRL) 3-0 (11-2, 11-7, 11-8)
Group 9
Tom Jarvis bt Curtis Humphreys (TTO) 3-0 (11-4, 12-10, 11-6)
Jarvis bt Kurt Lingeveldt (RSA) 3-2 (11-4, 10-12, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4)
Abhishek Yadav (IND) bt Jarvis 3-1 (4-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-7)
Group 10
Alex Ramsden bt Michael Marsden (WAL) 3-1 (11-9, 3-11, 11-7, 11-5)
Ramsden bt Demetrios Katsouris (CYP) 3-0 (11-9, 11-6, 12-10)
Ramsden bt Rohan Sirisena (SRI) 3-1 (11-13, 11-6, 11-7, 11-3)
Group 11
Helshan Weerasinghe bt Yi-Sien Lin (NZL) 3-0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-2)
Weerasinghe bt Stephanos Gregoriou (CYP) 3-0 (11-4, 11-2, 11-8)
Weerasinghe bt Nirmala Jayasingha (SRI) 3-0 (11-5, 11-2, 11-9)
Women’s singles
Group 2
Karina Le Fevre bt Danisha Patel (RSA) 3-0 (11-2, 11-4, 11-8)
Le Fevre bt Hansani Kapugeekiyana (SRI) 3-1 (11-5, 3-11, 11-2, 11-5)
Group 4
Maria Tsaptsinos bt Emma McSorley (IRL) 3-0 (11-2, 11-5, 11-8)
Tsaptsinos bt Sophia Koni (CYP) 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-3)
Tsaptsinos bt Brittany Joseph (TTO) 3-0 (11-5, 11-4, 11-9)
Men’s Doubles
First round
Jarvis & Ramsden bt Matthew Ball & Yi-Sien Lin (NZL) 3-0 (11-3, 11-8, 11-7)
Second round
Sudhanshu Grover & Abhishek Yadav (IND) bt Jarvis & Ramsden 3-1 (13-11, 12-14, 11-9, 11-6)
Marios Yiangou & Hristo Hristonov (CYP) bt McBeath & Weerasinghe 3-1 (11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8)
Women’s doubles
Second round
Ho & Tsaptsinos bt Caitlin Lingeveldt & Danisha Patel (RSA) 3-0 (14-12, 11-1, 11-1)
Mixed Doubles
Second round
McBeath & Le Fevre bt Nirmala Jayasingha & Eran Warusawithana (SRI) 3-0 (11-7, 11-3, 11-7)
Abhishek Yadav & Kritiwika Roy (IND) bt Weerasinghe & Tsaptsinos 3-2 (7-11, 11-1, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9)
Third round
McBeath & Le Fevre bt Harmeet Desai & Pooja Sahasrabudhe (IND) 3-2 (6-11, 11-6, 4-11, 16-14, 11-8)
Quarter-finals
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran & Ankita Das (IND) bt McBeath & Le Fevre 3-1 (11-4, 9-11, 11-2, 11-5)