by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Furthermore, she won somewhat against the odds; the no.2 seed, she accounted for Russia’s Nadejda Pushpasheva, the top seed, at the final hurdle (11-7, 7-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-3).

Success for Giada Rossi, who emerged as one of two surprise winners in the Women’s Singles event; the other being Germany’s Sandra Mikolaschek, the player who earlier in the week had won the Class 1-5 title in the junior tournament.

Similar to Giada Rossi, she was the no.2 seed and beat the top seed in the final; she overcame, Serbia’s Borislava Peri-Rankovic, gold medallist in Women’s Singles Class 4 at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Impressively she won in four games (11-8, 4-11, 11-9, 11-2).

Meanwhile, in the remaining Women’s Singles events, it was success for the top seeds, with Croatia very much leading the way.

Sandra Paovic won Class 6 accounting for Ukraine’s Antonina Khodzynskaya in the final (11-4, 14-12, 11-5), whilst in group organised events, Andela Muzinic secured the Class 3 crown, notably finishing one place ahead of colleague, Helena Dretar. Likewise Mirjana Lucic was crowned the Class 10 champion, Romania’s Ioana-Monica Tepelea being the silver medallist.

Success for Croatia; there was also success as status predicted for the Netherlands for Poland and for Russia.

Kelly van Zon claimed the Class 7 title beating Russia’s Victoriya Safonova in the final (11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 13-11); in a group organised event Poland’s Karolina Pek remained unbeaten to claim the top prize in Class 8-9, the silver medal finished in the hands of Russia’s Olga Komleva.

Silver for Russia, in Class 11 it was gold and silver; Natalya Kosmina overcame coll

The individual events concluded; eyes now focus on the team competitions; play concludes on Saturday 4th March.

Day Two: 2017 Lignano Masters Para Open: Draws and Latest Results