In the first phase of matches in the Menโs Singles event at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Qatar Open in Doha the players to lead the upsets were French: Jeremy PETIOT, Tristan FLORE and Romain LORENTZ. Listed at no.254 on the current Menโs World Rank,
In the first phase of matches in the Menโs Singles event at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Qatar Open in Doha the players to lead the upsets were French: Jeremy PETIOT, Tristan FLORE and Romain LORENTZ.
Listed at no.254 on the current Menโs World Rankings, Jeremy PETIOT accounted for Singaporeโs YANG Zi, named at no.75 (11-4, 16-18, 11-9, 11-4, 13-11), before Tristan FLORE followed suit by overcoming Chinaโs LIANG Jinkun (11-3, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 13-15, 11-8). Currently Tristan FLORE is at no.175 on the global list, LIANG Jingkun is at no.101. Romain LORENTZ, World ranked no.176, defeated Italyโs Mihai BOBOCICA, World ranked 111 (11-6, 5-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-1, 11-3); the wins meant all three Frenchmen topped their groups.
The success for France was not complete; Abdel-Kader SALIFOU, the winner of three Challenge Series GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Tournaments and World ranked no.91, was beaten by Germanyโs Ricardo WALTHER, named at no.186. Ricardo WALTHER won in five games (11-5, 5-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-8) to secure first place in the group.
Austriaโs Amelie SOLJA duly secured first places in her respective group as did Germanyโs Zhenqi BARTHEL.
