by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Joo Youngdae won Men’s Singles Class 1 finishing ahead of colleague, Lee Haekon with Chinese Taipei’s Chen Fu-Kuei in third place.

Similarly, in Men’s Singles Class 2, it was the same order. Korea won gold and silver with Chinese Taipei in the bronze medal position. Next to Cha Sooyong was Song Byungjun followed by Huang Ching-Hung.

Both were successes as anticipated; Joo Youngdae and Song Byungjun started proceedings as the top seeds.

However, there were surprises, notably involving Japan; in Men’s Singles Class 8, in all Japanese duels, Hiromi Sato beat Hideo Tamai, the top seed (11-5, 3-11, 11-7, 11-7); Yoshihisa Takeda accounted for Arufuahirokazu Tateishi (11-7, 12-10, 11-4).

It was to prove the one and only defeat for both Hideo Tamai and Arufuahirokazu Tateishi; Hideo Tamai beat Alexander Xu of the United States to secure second place (11-5, 11-3, 11-3) but for Arufuahirokazu Tateishi, it was a different scenario.

Australia’s Nathan Pellisier beat Yoshihisa Takeda in four games (12-10, 11-4, 5-11, 11-7), before in the concluding group contest losing to Arufuahirokazu Tateishi by a similar margin (9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4). Three players level, games ratio decided; it was first place for Yoshihisa Takeda (4:3), followed by Nathan Pellisier (4:4) and Arufuahirokazu Tateishi (3:4).

In events where there are two stages, players finishing in first and second places in the initial phase, advance to the main draw; thus for Arufuahirokazu Tateishi it was elimination.

Likewise, in Women’s Singles Class 11, in the initial stage of proceedings, there was an upset involving Japan; Sayuri Mio, the top seed, was beaten by Korea’s Seo Yanghee. Defeat for Sayuri Mio but it was her only reverse; alongside the unbeaten Seo Yanghee, she duly advanced to the main draw.

Notable performances and there was one of particular note from the host association; in Men’s Singles Class 5, Lin Yen-Hung overcame Germany’s Valentin Baus, the no.2 seed (9-11, 11-1, 11-7, 8-11, 11-7). Lin Yen-Hung remained unbeaten to secure a place in the main draw alongside top seeded colleague, Cheng Ming-Chih; for Valentin Baus, it was his only defeat, thus a main draw place was reserved.

Defeat for Hideo Tamai but it was a day when the top seeds enjoyed success. In addition to Cheng Ming-Chih; in the Men’s Singles events, Germany’s Thomas Schmidberger (Class 3) and Jochen Wollmert (Class 6) remained unbeaten to top their groups as did Thailand’s Wanchai Chaiwut (Class 4), South Africa’s Theo Cogill (Class 9-10) and Japan’s Takeshi Takemori (Class 11).

Similarly in the Women’s Singles events, Korea’s Kang Oejeong (Class 3-5) enjoyed a successful day as did Chinese Taipei’s Tian Shiau-Wen (Class 9-10). Meanwhile, Germany’s Juliane Wolf and Josephine Medina of the Philippines, the respective top two seeds in Class 7-8, remained unbeaten in an event organised on the group formula.

Play in the individual events concludes on Monday 17th July.

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