Tense duels brought the opening day of play, Tuesday 19th May 2009, to a conclusion at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships in the Scottish city of Glasgow, with Canada, the fourth seeds in the Women’s Team event suffering a reverse.

They were beaten in a contest that went the full five match distance; despite the splendid efforts of Zhang Mo.

She remained unbeaten, overcoming Kelly Sibley in a thrilling five games duel before accounting for the defensive skills of Joanna Parker.

Hannah Hicks
Alas for Canada that was their only success; Stephanie Yuen was beaten by 18 year old Hannah Hicks making her debut at the Commonwealth Championships whilst twin sister Sarah Yuen suffered in the first and last matches of the duel

In the opening contest she suffered agonies against the defensive skills of Joanna Parker whilst in the duel that brought matters to an end, she won the first game against Kelly Sibley but won no more as the English champion, gained in confidence.

India Survives but only just
A close defeat for the number four seeds and a close call for the number three seeds, India; they beat Australia by three matches to two with Mouma Das, the heroine.

She saved match points in the final contest against Stephanie Xu in the fourth game of their encounter before dominating the fifth to bring victory to India.

The remaining Indian wins came from Poulomi Ghatak against Stephanie Xu and from Shamini Kumaresan in opposition to Peri Campbell-Innes; the two wins for Australia both came from the racket of Miao Miao.

Attacking quickly in trademark style, she defeated both Mouma Das and Poulomi Ghatak.

Singapore and Malaysia
However, there were no such problems for Singapore and Malaysia in their fixtures that brought the first day of action to a close.

Singapore beat Northern Ireland by three matches to nil whilst Malaysia handed out the same punishment to Wales.

Group A
In Group A, Singapore is in first place with two wins, followed by Northern Ireland and New Zealand with one victory and one loss each, whilst Guernsey occupies fourth.

Group B
Malaysia heads Group B with two successes, Wales and Cyprus, both having lost to Malaysia share second spot.

Group C
Similarly, in Group C, Australia and Scotland are in joint second place with India, having recorded two wins in top spot.

Group D
Meanwhile, in Group D, Canada has one win to their credit having beaten South Africa; the only matches played in Group D being Canada versus South Africa and England against Canada.

Wednesday 20th May 2009
The group matches continues on Wednesday 20th May 2009.

Image by Ayoade Ademakinwa