Day 1 at NZ International Classic 
5 Jun 2015
All has gone to plan at the NZ International Classic in Palmerston North with the only upset coming from New Zealands own Ellie Epke.
In the mens draw Nafiizwan Adnan of Malaysia managed to take out Christopher Binnie of Jamaica in 3. Rex Hedrick of Australia took out the first kiwi from the main draw beating Evan Williams in a tough 4. There was always going to be a kiwi knocked out when Paul Coll played Kashif Shuja, the experienced Shuja looked ready for a comeback in the third but Coll showed his youth and won in 4. Martin Knight also dispatched of kiwi wildcard and new to the PSA circuit Luke Jones in 3. Raphael Kandra of Germany took down James Huang of Taiwan in a straightforward 3. Next up was kiwi Lance Beddoes who had to take on Declan James of England. Beddoes couldn't seem to find his stride in the first 2 but then managed to come back and take the third but James stepped it up again and took the win in 4 knocking another kiwi out. One of the best matches of the first round was between Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu of India against Abdulla Mohd El Tamimi of Qatar. El Tamimi took the early lead getting 2 games up but Singh worked hard and managed to get the win in the fifth winning 14/12. The final kiwi on of the night was Campbell Grayson playing Matthew Hopkin of Australia. Hopkin managed to pick up almost all of Graysons shots in the first game but Grayson stepped the level up and made Hopkin work hard in the next 3 and Hopkin couldn't manage to match Graysons experience.
In the womens draw Joey Chan of Hong Kong showed her experience on the professional circuit against her young opponent Abbie Palmer. Palmer couldn't match the intensity of Chan and went down in a formidable 3. Sina Wall of Germany took out Yura Choi of South Korea in what was a relatively straightforward 3. Next up the battle of the Australians between Christine Nunn and Selena Shaikh. Shaikh was not strong enough and Nunn got the win in 3. Next up the kiwis had to battle it out and Megan Craig showed she was to strong for qualifier Mickayla Kerr with her experience on the circuit proving too much for Kerr. Another Kiwi battle of the night was between Amanda Landers-Murphy and Rebecca Barnett. Team mates from the 2014 World Womens team event Landers-Murphy made sure not to let Barnett get a hint of a lead and took the win in a comfortable 3. Local wildcard Danielle Fourie looked like she was going to cause an upset against Sarah Cardwell of Australia. But the newbie to the circuit Fourie couldn't match the intensity of Cardwell and went down in a formidable 4. The upset of the night came when qualifier Ellie Epke took out Lakeesha Rarere of Australia. Rarere and Epke having already played 3 times this year there was everything to gain from this battle. Epke showed after her loss to Rarere at the Oceania Junior Champs she wanted revenge and she came out to win in 4, her best result to date. The last match of the night was between Jessica Turnbull of Australia and Misaki Kobayashi of Japan. Kobayashi proved too strong for Turnbull taking the win in 3.
Games will be streamed live and all previous games can be watched here
Games to be streamed on Friday include
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5:30pm - [1] Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) vs [5] Rex Hedrick (AUS)
- 6:30pm - [8] Paul Coll (NZL) vs [4] Martin Knight (NZL)
- 7:30pm - [3] Raphael Kandra (GER) vs [7] Declan James (ENG)
- 8:30pm - [6] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) [2] Campbell Grayson (NZL)
Full results can be found here
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