Paul Drinkhall was knocked out at the first hurdle of the WTT Feeder Biella in Italy as his opponent Andrea Puppo (WR 349) won their last-64 clash in four games.

Drinkhall (pictured above) led the first 9-7 after a run of four points, only to see his opponent win the next four and then lead throughout the second.

Drinkhall, currently ranked at 118, hit back in a one-sided third, but saw an 8-3 lead pegged back to 8-8 in the fourth and then had to save two match points at 9-10 and 10-11. Puppo then took his next match point to go through to the last 32.

Ismaila Akindiya made his WTT debut in the first qualifying round and was beaten in three close games by Jules Cavaille of France (WR 668).

England-based Poon Yat won her round of 64 match against Sofia Minurri in three to set up a last-32 match against world No 86 Ivana Malobabic of Croatia, where she lost in three.

Yat also played in the Mixed Doubles, alongside Mahdi Ahmadian, an Iran-born athlete who is part of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team. The lost in the last 16 to second seeds Lubomir Pistej & Barbora Balazova of Slovakia.

Results

Men’s Singles
Qualifying round 1
Jules Cavaille (FRA) bt Ismaila Akindiya 3-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-8)

Round of 64
Andrea Puppo (ITA) bt Paul Drinkhall 3-1 (11-9, 11-8, 4-11, 13-11)

Women’s Singles
Round of 64
Poon Yat bt Sofia Minurri (ITA) 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-4)

Round of 32
Ivana Malobabic (CRO) bt Yat 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-8)

Mixed Doubles
Round of 16
Lubomir Pistej & Barbora Balazova (SVK) bt Mahdi Ahmadian (REF) & Poon Yat 3-0 (11-6, 11-3, 11-7)