by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Both outfits commenced play as the second seeds.
In a group organised event Andrea Borgato and Federico Falco finished ahead of top seeds, the combination of Hungary’s Endre Major and Great Britain’s Tom Matthews; whilst in Class 2, Federico Cosara and Giuseppe Vella, beat the partnership formed by Slovenia’s Ljubisa Gajic and Korea’s Park Jincheol to claim the top prize.
A two matches to nil win was the outcome against a duo in good form; at the semi-final stage Ljubisa Gajic and Park Jincheol had recorded a two-one win in opposition to the top seeded French partnership of Vincent Boury and Julien Michaud.
Two surprise Men’s Team winners; there was one more and again it was the second seeds who prevailed. Poland’s Rafal Lis and Maciej Nalepka emerged successful in Class 4; they finished ahead of top seeds, Germany’s Thomas Brüchle and Frenchman Alexandre Delarque. Notably the Polish duo recorded two matches to nil wins on each visit to the table.
Unexpected outcomes; in the remaining Men’s Team competitions, it was the top teams that prevailed with Ukraine enjoying notable success.
Vasyl Petrunov and Oleksandr Yezyk won Class 3, Maksym Nikolenko and Mykhaylo Popov secured the Class 7 title, whilst Viktor Didukh and Ivan Mai emerged as the Class 8 champions.
Success for the favourites, it was the same in Class 5, an event that witnessed gold for the Serbian trio of Budimir Malesic, Mitar Palikuca and Milan Zelen. Likewise in Class 6 the favourites prevailed; Croatia’s Vjekoslav Gregorovic and Pava Jozic claimed the top prize. Similarly, Sweden’s Daniel Gustafsson and Fabian Rignell won Class 9; the combination of the Netherlands’ Bas Hegerlink and Montenegro’s Filip Radovic secured the top step of the podium in Class 10, whilst Belgium’s Florian Van Acker and Hungary’s Peter Palos emerged as the Class 11 champions.
Meanwhile, in the Women’s Team competitions, the top seeds succeeded in each event, with Russia emerging the most successful nation.
Raisa Chebanika and Ulija Shishkina claimed gold in Class 6-7; Maria Galkina and Elena Prokofeva claimed the top prize in Class 11.
Similarly, Croatia’s Helena Dretar and Andela Muzinic won Class 1-3, Serbia’s Borislava Peric-Rankovic and Zorica Popadic emerged as the Class 4-5 champions, with the combination of Poland’s Karolina Pek and Romania’s Iona-Monica Tepelea being anointed Class 8-10 champions.
Play concluded in Lignano, attention now turns to Eger, the Hungarian Para Open will be staged from Friday 17th to Sunday 19th March.
2017 Lignano Masters Para Open: Draws and Latest Results