by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
At the semi-final stage Matteo Gualdi and John Oyebode accounted for India’s Payas Jain and Maanav Mehta by three matches to one; the one win for the Indians being in the doubles (13-11, 3-11, 11-9, 4-11, 12-10).
In the final, there was to be no such charity, a three-nil outcome was the order of proceedings in opposition to the Tunisia ‘A’ combination of Youssef Ben Attia, Louay Hamrouni and Khalil Sta.
Matteo Gualdi beat Louay Hamrouni (11-5, 11-5, 11-7), before John Oyebode defeated Youssef Ben Attia (11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 12-10) and an Italian doubles success against Youssef Ben Attia and Louay Hamrouni concluded matters (14-12, 11-5, 11-7).
“We are very happy with our victory, we had gold as a goal since the start of the competition, my tactic is to positively and also to keep making changes.” John Oyebode
At the semi-final stage Youssef Ben Attia, Louay Hamrouni and Khalil Sta had recorded a three-one win in opposition to the Tunisia ‘D’ combination of Youssef Abid and Habib Ameur. The one win for Tunisia ‘D’ was gained by Youssef Abid; in the second match of the fixture, he defeated Khalil Sta (11-9, 11-8, 11-5).
Meanwhile for Elisa Armanini and Evelyn Vivarelli, it was a very similar story; at the final hurdle they recorded a three-one win over the Egypt ‘A’ Team comprising Farida Badawy and Hana Goda.
Evelyn Vivarelli beat both Hana Goda (11-6, 12-10, 11-5) and Farida Badawy (6-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-7, 11-4), whilst Elisa Armanini accounted for Farida Badawy (11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 9-11, 11-2). The one success for the Egyptians was recorded in the doubles (6-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6).
“Very happy, but the end was very difficult especially as I was totally concentrating and I did not play well the doubles; I have to be more concentrated for the next days of the competition.” Evelyn Vivarelli
At the semi-final stage, Elisa Armanini and Evelyn Vivarelli had beaten the Tunisia ‘A’ pairing of Samar Hichri and Islam Wenaiss by three matches to nil; by the same margin Farida Badaway and Hana Goda had defeated the Tunisia ‘B’ pairing of Ferdaoues Manaa and Maram Zoghlami.
