24 Jul 2017

Gold medallists at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, Great Britain’s Will Bayley, Belgium’s Laurens Devos and Poland’s Patryk Chojnowski all repeated the feat of last September at the 2017 Bayreuth Open in Germany on Thursday 14th June.

However, in the Men’s Singles events, they were in the minority, there were plenty of surprises winners; notably Denmark’s Peter Rosenmeier, likewise a gold medallist in Rio de Janeiro, felt the pain of defeat.

by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

The no.2 seed, Will Bayley accounted for Ukraine’s Maksym Nikolenko, the top seed (8-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-4) to clinch the Class 7 title; likewise Laurens Devos rose the occasion, the top seed in Class 8 he accounted for Russia’s Iurii Nozdrunov, the second seed (9-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 13-11) to claim the top prize.

“I’m so happy to win the gold. It was amazing to have coach, Andrew Rushton, in my corner and the gold medal was a perfect end to a very good singles performance. At two-nil down in the final I changed my tactics and started to play more positively. After he dominated the first two games I managed to dominate the last three.” Will Bayley

Hard earned wins, for Patryk Chojnowski, life was less dramatic; the top seed in Class 10, he overcame Austria’s Krisztian Gardos, the no.2 seed (11-8, 11-8, 11-6) to reserve the top step of the podium.

Wins as expected but in the remaining Men’s Singles events, there were surprise winners with Great Britain collecting a second title.

Ross Wilson, the no.4 seed, won Class 8; at the final hurdle he beat the Slovak Republic’s Richard Csejtey, the no.5 seed and a man in form (11-6, 9-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-3); at the semi-final stage Richard Csejtey had accounted for Ukraine’s Viktor Didukh, the top seed (11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7).

“I’ve had a really good competition. I’ve been training really hard and it’s gone well so I’m very happy. At two-one down in the final I changed a few things and got myself back into it. It’s nice to be back on top and winning again and I hopefully I can continue that form. We’ve done well here as a team so that is a positive going forward.” Ross Wilson

Two titles for Great Britain, it was three for Korea. Park Sungjoo won Class 1 beating Switzerland’s Sylvio Keller in the final (11-5, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5); Great Britain’s top seeded Rob Davies having departed proceedings one day earlier in the group stage.

A surprise win for Korea, it was the same in Class 4; Kim Younggun, the no.2 seed, clinched the title at the final expense of Turkey’s Abdullah Ozturk, the top seed (11-7, 11-2, 10-12, 11-5). Meanwhile, not to be upstaged, in Class 11, Kim Gitae, the no.2 seed, accounted for Hungary’s Peter Palos, the top seed (8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-6) to claim gold.

Defeat for Turkey against expectations but there was the reverse scenario; Ali Ozturk, the no.3 seed, won the Class 3 title. He accounted for Korea’s Kim Kyungyoung in the final (10-12, 11-5, 11-4, 12-10), having in the penultimate round ousted Germany’s Valentin Baus, the top seed (11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10).

Good form from Kim Kyungyoung; it was continued good form from Ireland’s Colin Judge and Ian Seidenfeld of the United States; both winners the previous week, both emerged winners in Bayreuth.

Neither listed amongst the top seeded names, Colin Judge won Class 2 beating Frenchman Vincent Boury, the no.6 seed in the final (11-8, 11-7, 11-5). Notably Vincent Boury had one round earlier accounted for colleague Stéphane Molliens, the no.4 seed (11-6, 7-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9), the quarter-final winner over Poland’s Rafal Czuper, the top seed (11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9).

Impressive once again from Colin Judge, it was the same from Ian Seidenfeld. He secured the Class 6 title. He defeated Frenchman Bastien Grundeler, the no.5 seed in the final (11-8, 5-11, 11-7, 11-3), having at the semi-final stage ousted Denmark’s Peter Rosenmeier, the top seed (10-12, 3-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-8).

Disappointment for France but against the odds there was success. Florian Merrien, the no.3 seed, won the Class 3 title beating Ukraine’s Vasyl Petruniv in the final (11-6, 11-6, 12-10) having one round earlier caused a major upset by overcoming the host nation’s Thomas Schmidberger, the top seed (9-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9).

The individual events concluded; attention now turns to the team competitions, play concludes on Saturday 17th June.

2017 Bayreuth Para Open: Draw and Latest Results

Paralympics Para Table Tennis 2017 Bayreuth Para Open