by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor (Interviews by Francesca Bullock and Frantisek Zalewsky)
Success for the combination of Mykaylo Popov, Daniel Horut and Zbynek Lambert was as anticipated; they were the top seeds.
In the final, selecting Mykaylo Popov and Daniel Horut, they accounted for the Japanese duo of Hiromoto Kito and Takuya Shibasaki by two matches to nil to claim the title.
Likewise, Ivan Karabec and David Pulpan emerged victorious as their top seeded position suggested. They beat Poland’s Pawel Jablonski and Pawel Konstantyn by two matches to nil at the final hurdle; notably Igor Misztal, who had beaten Ivan Karabec in the Men’s Singles Class 10 final the previous day, was not called to the aid of his Polish colleagues.
“I’m glad I got revenge for yesterday. In addition, David has a bigger handicap than the Polish players who are healthy on their feet. It is a valuable victory for us and a definitely encouraging result before the European Championships.” Ivan Karabec.
“It’s always an honour to play with Ivan. He is a great personality. He has won the Paralympic Games, the World Championships and a number of great tournaments. I am glad that I was a valuable member of the team.” David Pulpan.
Earlier in the day in the semi-finals, Ivan Karabec and David Pulpan had beaten the combination of Brazil’s Claudio Massad and Argentina’s Dario Neira by two matches to one; at the same stage Pawel Jablonski and Pawel Konstantyn had recorded a two-nil win in opposition to Great Britain’s Jack Stockdale and Shae Thakker.
“Being able to play in my first senior tournament was a great opportunity for me. Even though I didn’t play my best I came away with a lot of things to work on. Overall it was a good learning curve for me and I was very happy to win a medal in the team event with Shae.” Jack Stockdale
“This tournament has been extremely challenging for me. I haven’t been at my best but it has shown me the areas that I need to work on and start to develop. I will learn from the experience and reflect on it in order to improve. I’m very happy to win a medal in the team event with Jack.” Shae Thakker
Titles as anticipated; in Men’s Team Class 8, it was a very different situation.
One day earlier, in the group phase, Andras Csonka and Phisit Wangphonphathanasiri had suffered a two-nil defeat at the hands of Poland’s Piotr Grudzien and Marcin Skrzynecki, the top seeds.
On the second day of play, after recording a two-nil penultimate round success against Japan’s Daichi Imaizumi and Hiromi Sati; they overcame Piotr Grudzien and Marcin Skrzynecki by two matches to one to secure the title.
Star of the show was Andras Csonka. He partnered Phisit Wangphonphathanasiri to doubles success (11-9, 13-11, 11-7) before in the deciding third match of the fixture overcoming Piotr Grudzien (11-8, 11-8, 11-6).
Play in Ostrava over, attention now turns the Lasko in Slovenia, the venue for the European Para Championships. Play commences on Thursday 28th September and is scheduled to conclude on Wednesday 4th October.
2017 Czech Para Open: Forthcoming matches and latest results