(by Steve Hopkins)

A perfect start for Kanak Jha on the opening day of group play at the ITTF Men’s and Women’s World Cup in Macao.   Jha, who is second seed in Group 12 defeated the bottom player, Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes 4-0.  The score is important as every point can potentially matter.  In this case, Jha won every game and dominated with 44-12 points won to lost.  Jha’s path is clear – if he can win 2 of 4 games against Dang Qiu, he will likely win the group and advance.  Any result that is worse, would require some help (with Cifuentes beating Qiu, for example).  Regardless – Cifuentes is a solid player (usually around No. 100 in the World), and Jha has done exactly what he needed to do in his opening match.

A few other results of note in Men’s Group play – Eugene Wang split with Yukiya Uda 2-2, keeping Canada’s hopes alive for advancing out of the third position in that group.  Wang will need to beat Hugo Calderano to advance.  Two players in the third position scored upsets over the player in second position – Simon Gauzy won 3 of 4 against Alvaro Robles, and Feng Yi-Hsin won 3 of 4 against Anders Lind.

Lily Zhang has yet to play in the Women’s Groups – she’ll play once each of the next two days.  USA’s second player, Amy Wang lost 0-4 against Elizabeta Samara.  Amy still has Shin Yubin to play, so to advance, she would need a near perfect performance against Korea’s best player.

Lots of group action on tap this week – with elimination rounds late in the week.  Tune in for updates at ButterflyOnline.com.

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