Pitchford hits back as as China roll on

Things are heating up nicely in Group B  as Liam Pitchford just shocked Japanese teenage sensation Tomokazu Harimoto in a five-game thriller (6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8) evening up the score between the two teams.

Over at Table 1, Team China secured their win over Team Nigeria for the day, with Lin Gaoyuan trumping Olajide Omotayo in straight games (11-3, 11-4, 11-7).

Jang builds lead while Germany secure win

Korea Republic’s shining star Jang Woojin won in style against the youthful American Kanak Jha (7-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-8) to give Team Korea a 2-0 lead into the match against Team United States.

Meanwhile for Team Germany, Dimitrij Ovtcharov won in straight games versus Team Australia’s Dillon Chambers (11-6, 11-8, 11-7), followed by Patrick Franziksa wrapping up the tie with a similar win over Kane Townsend, giving Team Germany a 3-0 win.

Team China begin in control

In probably the toughest match this morning, Team China are taking on Team Nigeria in the men’s category with Ma Long and Lin Gaoyuan starting out with a win over Olajide Omotayo and Bode Aboidun (11-4, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9).

Team China were certainly made to sweat in that match, and will be pleased to have come through unscathed. Even better, in the second match-up Liang Jingkun came out on top against Quadri Aruna (11-9, 11-7, 11-5) to give the Chinese side control over the tie.

Tough morning for the English

The English team had a morning to forget as the home side of Japan were efficient in their first round win executed by Koki Niwa and Yoshimura Maharu over Tom Jarvis and Paul Drinkhall (11-7, 11-6, 11-7).

Pleasing the home crowd, Niwa and Maharu displayed a fine sense of comraderie as the two were in tandem to prevent any comebacks from Jarvis & Drinkhall. Will the English be able to bounce back in the singles game?

Team Germany start strong

The Germans had a good morning here in Tokyo with the combination of Timo Boll and Patrick Franziska winning 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-4)  against Team Australia’s Kane Townsend and Xavier Dixon in the opening round of Group C.

Similarly at Table 4, Korea Republic’s Lee Sangsu and Jeoung Youngsik won 3-0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-7) against USA’s Kai Zhang and Yijun Feng in Group D.

Let the World Cup begin!