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The host nation’s Ahmed Nadim and India’s Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, the leading two names in the first stage of the Men’s Singles event at the ITTF Euro-Africa Egypt Open in Cairo, duly booked their places in the main draw following a brace of wins on Thursday 4th October 2012.
They are the only players to complete their first phase matches.
Ahmed Nadim accounted for colleagues Sayed Ramadan (11-3, 11-7, 11-9, 11-7) and Hamed Hafez (11-8, 11-9, 12-10, 11-3).
 Two comparatively comfortable wins but that was not the situation for Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.
More Testing
He needed six games to overcome Egypt’s Aly Lashin (4-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9) and five games to defeat Mahmoud Nabil, also from Egypt (11-8, 11-6, 4-11, 11-3, 11-8).
A tough test for Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and it was the same for both Mohamed Shouman and Mahmoud Zaghloul; both favourites to finish in first places in their respective groups, both recorded wins on their first two visits to the table but both encountered problems.
Close Call
In all Egyptian battles, Mohamed Shouman needed six games to beat Galal Raafat (5-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-5); before rather more comfortably defeating Abdel-Rahmam Mohamed in four straight games (11-8, 12-10, 11-4,15-13); whilst for Mahmoud Zaghloul, life was even more testing.
He accounted for Brazil’s Ricardo de Barrios (11-4, 11-8, 11-3, 11-5), before overcoming Shady Magdy in a titanic struggle that resulted in a nail-biting deciding seventh game. Mahmoud Zaghloul won 11-4, 12-14, 11-13, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7, 15-13.
Principal Names Progress
Otherwise for the principal names on duty in the first phase of proceedings in the Men’s Singles event, life was less torturous.
Egypt’s Mohamed El-Sobky, Omar Bedair and Karim El-Shaarawy completed the day unbeaten as did the Slovak Republic’s Samuel Novota.
Qualification Process
Other than Ahmed Nadim and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, all players in the first stage of the Men’s Singles event still have one match to play in order to complete their programme.
Players finishing in first and second places in each group qualify for the first round of the main draw; the eight seeds join proceedings in round two.
First Place Secured
Meanwhile, in the Women’s Singles event, India’s Shamini Kumaresan and Mousumi Paul duly finished in first place in their respective groups as predicted as did Egypt’s Nadeen El-Dawlatly and Sara El-Sokary with Sara Hassan, with one match still to play, also unbeaten.
However, there was one upset.
One Upset
India’s Divya Deshpande was beaten by India Galila Nasser (11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10, 5-11, 11-9).
Divya Deshpande currently stands at no.428 on the Women’s World Rankings, Galila Nasser is over one thousand places lower at no.1448.
Second Stage
The players finishing in first and second places in each of the six groups in the first phase of proceedings join the four seeds in the main draw.
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