Favourites Survive Scares To Reach World Games Quarters

The top-seeded players survived several scares to secure their spots in the quarter-finals at The World Games in Chengdu.

In the women's event, top seed Satomi Watanabe recovered from a torrid start against Hungary's Hannah Chukwu, while Saskia Beinhard and Habiba Hani also had to fight back to clinch their placees in the last eight.

In the men's event, there were even more comebacks. No.2 seed Dimitri Steinmann, No.3 seed Miguel Rodriguez and No.8 seed Yannick Wilhelmi all hit back after challenging starts, unseeded Viktor Byrtus continued his dream run with a 3/1 win over South Africa's Dewald van Niekerk, while defending champion Victor Crouin navigated a tight encounter with Japan's Ryunosuke Tsukue.

World No.6 Watanabe came to Chengdu promising to improve on a disappointing performance in the last edition, Birmingham 2022, when she crashed out in the second round to USA's Marina Stefanoni.

The top seed must have feared history was repeating itself in a difficult first game against world No.286 Chukwu, with the unheralded Hungarian going 9-1 up en-route to an 11-5 win.

Watanabe had cut a frustrated figure in game one, but improved markedly in games two and three, levelling with an 11-5 win and then crushing Chukwu 11-1 in game three.

The Hungarian fought well in game four and saved a match ball at 10-8, but could not clinch the second as Watanabe held out to book her spot in the last eight with an 11-9 win.

"I was rushing too much and going short too early!" Watanabe revealed afterwards. "Coach Taiki told me after game one 'you're not hitting any length!' and she was hitting some really amazing shots so I had to change that. [Winning gold] is my one of my last goals, the first was just to get through today!"

Watanabe will face No.8 seed Habiba Hani in the last eight after the Egyptian recorded a closely-contested 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9 win over Switzerland's Ambre Allinckx.

In the match of the day in the men's event, 39-year-old former world No.4 Miguel Rodriguez of Colombia and reigning U23 World Champion Noor Zaman of Pakistan contested an epic 73-minute five gamer.

Rodriguez, a bronze medal winner in 2013 and 2022, struggled early on against Zaman, with the Pakistani dominating the first game 11-2 before Rodriguez took control with 11-7 and 11-9 wins.

Zaman came back hard in game four, saving match ball and then clinching the tie break 13-11 to force a fifth game.

In a staggering testimony to his elite conditioning, it was Rodriguez - 18 years Zaman's senior - who looked fitter in game five, with tired shots creeping into Zaman's game as the Colombian claimed victory with an 11-6 win to reach the quarter-finals for the fourth consecutive time.

Rodriguez will face Alex Lau of Hong Kong in the last eight after the No.5 seed impressed in a straight games win over Mohamed Nasser of Egypt.