The Teqball World Series Beijing got off to a rough start after rain washed away the first day in its entirety. The organizers had to come up with a Plan B, which they did and decided to cancel the group stage and start with the Round of 32.

That meant the stakes got high right off the bat and nobody could allow themselves to have an off-match.

African Beach Games bronze medallist and FITEQ World Ranking number 10 Yassine Sahli (TUN) was a late no-show due to illness, thus a re-draw was conducted. American Frankie Diaz inherited his spot in the men’s singles, while in the men’s doubles Jeno Vajtho (HUN) replaced him alongside Balazs Imreh (HUN).

The event started with the men’s singles R32 where no upsets happened. However, that changed completely a round later when Hungarian youngster wunderkind Boldizsar Levik shocked reigning world champion Adrian Duszak (POL) - who debuted at FITEQ events in 2024 - in two lopsided stets, causing the day’s biggest surprise. There were a couple of three-setters, even WR No.1 Apor Gyorgydeak (ROU) had to pull off a comeback against Soma Cseri (HUN), just like his countryman Arnold Szilagyi versus Zaid Eidan from Kuwait. Nikola Mitro (SRB) and Martin Csereklye (HUN) also needed three sets to qualify for the quarterfinals where they will face 3-time individual world champion Adam Blazsovics (HUN) and Gyorgydeak, respectively.

“It is so good to be back, I could not wait for this event and to be here in China, for me, it is incredible. Even though I lost in the top 16, I stayed focused for the doubles, because I really want to win a medal here!” - said the not-so-disappointed Adrian Duszak at the end of day.

Four Thai teams competed in the mixed doubles, but only two made it to the quarterfinals since the other two suffered tight losses. Romanians Kinga Barabasi and Apor Gyorgydeak took advantage of Jutatip Kuntatong/Jirati Chanliang’s unstable service game, while Gabriella Kota/Balazs Katz (HUN) overcame losing the second set by one point versus Areeya Homdee/Sorrasak Thaosiri, another Thai twosome.
Sudarat Thongkot and Boonkoom Tipwong made no mistake against Zahraa Alshammari/Ali Jalil Mezher Alelayawi (IRQ), and current world champions Suphawadi Wongkhamchan/Phakpong Dejaroen ended former singles world champ Anna Izsak’s and Arpad Sipos’s tournament in straight sets. WCh bronze medallists Krisztina Acs/Csaba Banyik made it look easy against Czechs Adriana Kecerova/David Kratochvil, and the same applies to two other Hungarian units, Petra Pechy/Adam Blazsovics (2-0 vs Anna Krikova/Kirill Zemskov) and Nora Vicsek/Matyas Odnoga (2-0 vs Ya Zhen Cui/Sun Zhixu from China).

The men’s doubles started with a bang as fan favourites Sun Zhixu/Jun Ming Zhan bounced Basel Ahmad Hasan/Salman Alibrahim (KUW), and it was Sun’s second victory of the day finishing the tournament as the best local Teqball player. Their ‘prize’ was world champions Banyik/Katz, who handled them without any problem to advance to the top 8 where they will meet with Duszak/Marek Pokwap (POL), who eliminated Noah Dahlman/Szabolcs Ilyes (DEN/ROU). Soma Cseri/Gergo Dombai (HUN) had to win two matches to make it to the quarterfinals, and the task did not seem to be hard for them. On Sunday, they will be tested much harder as WCh bronze medallists Boonkoom Tipwong/Phakpong Dejaroen are going to be their next opponent.
On the lower bracket, Odnoga/Bako cruised past fellow Hungarians Csereklye/Milan Csabi, tomorrow they will play against the other Thai unit, Sorrasak Thaosiri/Jirati Chanliang. Boldizsar Levik’s fabulous run continued in the afternoon as he and his partner, Benjamin Toth completed the comeback in the Round of 16 against Diaz/Szilagyi, but in the quarterfinal, they really need to bring their A-game versus three-time world champions Mitro/Bogdan Marojevic (SRB), who were given a run for their money by the Kratochvil brothers, Petr and David from Czechia.

Sunday will not be a regular final day as all three categories will resume from the quarterfinals. In the MS, there are going to be epic clashes between Gyorgydeak and Csereklye, Blazsovics and Mitro, Szilagyi and Marojevic, and the two prodigies, Pokwap and Levik.

The XD will bring on the fireworks as many contenders will face each other in the QFs: Acs/Banyik will go up against Thongkot/Tipwong, Barabasi/Gyorgydeak will play with Kota/Katz, but the Maja Umicevic/Adam Bako (SRB/HUN)–Pechy/Blazsovics and the Vicsek/Odnoga–Wongkhamchan/Dejaroen matches also promise to be amazing.

The clashes of the QF start at 9AM local time, while the semis kick-off half an hour before noon. The finals can be followed on TEQ TV from 3 PM Beijing time.