On Friday 19th February 2010 in Doha, Janos Jakab sat courtside in the role of the coach for his Hungarian compatriot Daniel Kosiba, in the opening round of the Under 21 Men’s Singles event at the Qatar Open.

Daniel Kosiba responded to the advice given and recovered from a three games to one deficit to post a seven games win over Russia’s Taras Merzlikin.

Six days later on Thursday 25th February 2010, the roles were reversed.

Daniel Kosiba sat courtside advising Janos Jakab in his second round Men’s Singles duel against Germany’s Steffen Mengel. Janos Jakab duly maintained his good form to emerge victorious but just as Daniel Kosiba had done one week earlier, he had to recover from a three games to one deficit to secure a seven games victory!

Great Help
“He helped me a great deal”, said Janos Jakab. “We decided to change the tactics after the fourth game when I was losing; I concentrated my attacks more towards the middle and his forehand.”

The victor in the first round over Japan’s Seiya Kishikawa in seven games, Janos Jakab gradually played more positively and asserted his authority on proceedings.

Topspin Difficult
“Playing topspin to topspin is difficult against Steffen Mengel, there’s a lot of spin on the ball”, continued Janos Jakab. “I think the reason I have played well today is that mentally I have been strong.”

Certainly he was mentally strong and Daniel Kosiba was a fortress of strength; it would seem that Hungarian national coaches Zsolt Harci and Peter Teglas are now no longer needed; they face redundancy!

Maybe they should start playing again; for sure Janos Jakab and Daniel Kosiba would be good courtside advisors!

Russian Maintains Form
A second fine performance by Janos Jakab, who had caused a first round upset and there was also a second outstanding display by Russia’s Kirill Skachkov, like Janos Jakab he had caused a first round surprise by beating Hong Kong’s Jiang Tianyi.

He continued his good form by ousting the Czech Republic’s Dmitrij Prokopcov.

Chinese Class
Success for Janos Jakab and Kirill Skachkov, in a round where matters went very much according to world ranking and the Chinese stars showed their class.

Ma Long, Wang Hao, Ma Lin and Wang Liqin, the respective top four seeded players all emerged successful in round two of the Men’s Singles event as did Zhag Jike, the no.7 seed and Xu Xin, seeded no.9.

In imperious style Ma Long beat Adrien Mattenet of France, Wang Hao accounted for the Czech Republic’s experienced Petr Korbel, Ma Lin ended the hopes of Austria’s Robert Gardos and Wang Liqin held all the aces against Singapore’s Yang Zi.

Similarly, Zhang Jike proved too consistent for India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta and Xu Xin overpowered North Korea’s Jang Song Man.

Korea and Japan
A successful round for China and the second round of the Men’s Singles event was also successful for Korea and Japan.

Ryu Seung Min, Joo Se Hyuk, Yoon Jae Young and Oh Sang Eun all kept the Korean flag waving as did Kaii Yoshida and Jun Mizutani for Japan.

Kaii Yoshida defeated Poland’s Bartosz Such, Jun Mizutani overcame Russia’s Igor Rubtsov; whilst for Korea, Ryu Seung Min prevailed in a close seven games encounter against Igor Rubtsov’s compatriot, Alexei Smirnov, Yoon Jae Young was tactically astute against Austria’s Chen Weixing and Oh Sang Eun beat injured colleague Kim Jung Hoon.

Injury
In his first round encounter against England’s Paul Drinkhall, Kim Jung Hoon had twisted his ankle; against Oh Sang Eun he was unable to move as in normal spirited fashion.

Hong Kong and Singapore Complete Line Up
Six Chinese, four Koreans, two Japanese, two Europeans and completing the last 16, one representative from Hong Kong and one from Singapore.

Hong Kong’s Tang Peng beat Belgium’s Jean-Michel Saive to book his third round place whilst at the same stage, Singapore’s Gao Ning accounted for Korea’s Cho Eon Rae.

Women’s Doubles
In Women’s Doubles events the top two seeded pairs enjoyed opening round success.

Hong Kong’s Jiang Huajun and Tie Yana, the no.1 seeds, defeated Russia’s Irina Ermakova and Anastasia Koltsova whilst Korea’s Kim Kyung Ah and Park Mi Young, the no.2 seeds, overcame India’s Mouma Das and Poulomi Ghatak.

The one surprise in the opening round of the Women’s Doubles competition was the defeat of China’s Cao Zhen and Yao Yan. They were beaten by Japan’s Ai Fukuhara and Kasumi Ishikawa.

Men’s Doubles
Equally, in the Men’s Doubles event, there was one surprise of note.

Top seeds, Japan’s Seiya Kishikawa and Jun Mizutani suffered in the opening round; they were beaten by the combination of the Czech Republic’s Dmitrij Prokopcov and Poland’s Bartosz Such.

However, for second seeds, Singapore’s Gao Ning and Yang Zi it was a different story; they beat Austria’s Robert Gardos and Daniel Habesohn to book a quarter-final place.

Source: www.ittf.com

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