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Wednesday 22nd - Round One Day Two |
The shocks continued in the men's event, with top seed Jonathon Power withdrawing shortly before play was due to start, suffering with a severe bout of stomach inflammation.
Power, who was hoping to make the most of the opportunity of seeing his archrival Peter Nicol of England lose on the opening day, was admitted to the hospital suffering from gastroenteritis and severe tonsillitis. "It is a huge blow to him. He is devastated to go out like this," said manager Jason Matthison. "We don’t know how he picked it up but he is very ill and has not slept a wink for the past 48 hours."
His place in the draw was taken by Pakistan's "Lucky Loser" Amjad Khan, who took full advantage of the unexpected opportunity by beating compatriot Mansoon Zaman 15/4 17/14 15/8.
Two qualifiers also progressed in the top half, with England's Nick Matthew pulling off a fantastic recovery from 1-2 down to beat Egyptian wizard Amr Shabana in five games, while in the final men's match on the showcourt Belgium's Stefan Casteleyn shattered the hopes of Australian 5th seed Paul Price, winning 15/12 in the fifth game of an often bad-tempered match.
Two fancied players to progress were Australian David Palmer and Malaysian Ong Beng Hee, beating Omar Elborolossy and Anthony Rickets respectively. "I fancy my chances with the two top players out of this competition, but I would still rate David as the favourite," said Ong.
The women's event continued to see the top seeds win comfortably - Leilani Joyce and Sarah Fitz-Gerald both won in under 20 minutes, conceding just 3 points each, and the only upset was when Ireland's Madeline Perry beat Scottish #1 Pamela Nimmo 9/5 9/6 9/2 in 32 minutes. Home interest ended when Rebecca Chiu lost 9/6 9/3 9/1 to Stephanie Brind.
Interest in tomorrow's second round will centre on the clash between world #1 and top seed Leilani Joyce and former World Champion Cassie Campion ...
Could Power's indisposition be anything to do with this photo opportunity as Rebecca Chiu shows the top players how to use chopsticks ???
Photo ©
SCMP.com by Martin Chan