Tense Duel Concludes Matters, Six Players Depart with Singles and Team Gold
By:
Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Two gold medals for Jan Riapos in San Diego
Photo By: Richard Xue
12/01/2012
Matters concluded at the Mike Dempsey Memorial Para Table Tennis Tournament in the west coast American city of San Diego on Saturday 1st December 2012 with defeat for the host nation.
The partnership of Mitchell Seidenfeld and Daryl Sterling suffered a close three-two reverse at the hands of the Czech Republic pairing formed by Daniel Horut and Zbynek Lambert in the Men’s Team Class 6-7 event.
Sadness for the hosts but quite the reverse for Daniel Horhut.
It meant that he was one of six players who departed with a brace of gold medals; success in both singles and team.
Select Group A select group, the other members were Finland’s Matti Launonen, the Slovak Republic’s Jan Riapos, Hungary’s Andras Csonka, the Czech Republic’s Ivan Karabec and Japan’s Takashi Takeda.
Singles Gold Medallists Joined Forces Earlier in the proceedings, Matti Launonen and Jan Riapos had won the respective Men’s Singles Class 1 and Men’s Singles Class 2 titles; on the final day of play they joined forces to secure the Men’s Team Class 1-2 title.
At the final hurdle they overcame the duo formed by Argentina’s Carlos Duarte and Mexico’s Gabriel Zaldivar.
The bronze medal went to the pairing of Brazil’s Bruno de Paula and Great Britain’s Oye Jemiyo, with the bronze medal in the Men’s Team Class 6-7 event being clinched by the combination of Canada’s Maoud Mojtahed and Israel’s Danny Bobrov.
Maintained Form Equally, Andras Csonka maintained the form shown earlier in the week when he won the Men’s Singles Class 8 title; as proceedings concluded he partnered Norway’s Andreas Aulie to success in the Men’s Team Class 8-9 event.
The pair beat the host nation’s Tahl Leibovitz and Chui Lim Ming in the final; the bronze medal went to Spain’s David Alonso and Alvaro Valera. Earlier Alvaro Valera had won the Men’s Singles Class 6 title, whilst Tahl Lebovitz had donned the Men’s Singles Class 9 crown.
Success for Czech Reublic Likewise Ivan Karabec won Men’s Team Class 10 gold in harness with Karim Boumedouha of France, the player he had beaten one day earlier in the Men’s Singles Class 10 final.
The pair overcame Chinese Taipei’s Ju Ren-Der and Lee Yao-Tang in the final, with the bronze medal finishing in the hands of the combination formed by Chinese Taipei’s Lu Wei-Chen and Samuel Huang from the United States.
Completing List Completing the super six was Japan’s Takashi Takeda; the winner of the Men’s Singles Class 11 event.
He partnered colleague Yuki Kinoshita to Men’s Team Class 11 gold. They overcame Poland’s Kamil Baluszek and Damian Slocinski in the final; the bronze medal finished in the hands of Takashi Takemori and Naoki Matsumoto, also from Japan.
Chinese Taipei Gold In the two remaining Men’s Team events; Chinese Taipei’s Lee Ching-Fong and Lin Gow-Ching won the Men’s Class Team Class 3-4 title with Korea’s Song Gu Young and Jun Ki Young being the silver medallists.
Bronze finished in the hands of Hu Sung-En and Wu Cheng-Sheng, also from Chinese Taipei.
Victory for Korea Success for Chinese Taipei, in the Men’s Team Class 5 competition it was success for Korea.
Jeon Tae Byeong and Kim Ki Young emerged as champions. Silver went to Israel’s Liran Geva who partnered Norway’s Tommy Urhaug, with Argentina’s Gonzalo Acosta and Mauro Depergola securing the bronze medal.
Pan American Title Meanwhile in the women’s events; the partnership of Brazil’s Carollina Maldonado and Canada’s Stephanie Chan emerged successful in the Women’s Team Class 6-10 event, with Chinese Taipei’s Yen Wei-Ting and Tian Shiau-Wen being the silver medallists.
The bronze medal was won by the host nation’s Jenny Beck and Sherri Umschied.
Two Medals for Japan Gold for Pan America in Women’s Team Class 6-10; in Women’s Team Class 11 it was both gold and bronze for Japan
Maki Ito and Harumi Kimura finished in first place with Miko Morita and Ayumi Kawasaki in third spot; second place went to the outfit comprising Hong Kong’s Wong Pui-Kei and Poland’s Moniko Dobko.
