by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Competing in Class 1-2, Iker Sastre emerged victorious accounting for China’s Gao Yan Ming at the final hurdle (11-6, 11-7, 11-13, 11-7).
Impressive from Iker Sastre, it was the same from Alvaro Valera in Class 6 and Juan Bautista Perez in Class 9; both occupied the top seeded positions, both overcame adversaries from the People’s Republic of China at the final hurdle. Alvaro Valera beat Huang Jiaxin (11-7, 8-11, 6-11, 11-3, 11-6), Juan Bautista Perez accounted for Zhao Yiqing (11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6).
Meanwhile, on duty in Class 11, in the title deciding contest, Eduardo Cuesta prevailed against Poland’s Marek Chybinski (11-6, 11-5, 11-7).
Outstanding performances but pride of place went to Norway’s Tommy Urhaug, gold medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. In action in Men’s Singles Class 5, at the semi-final stage he overcame China’s Cao Ningning (8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6), the gold medallist in the category at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. A place in the final booked, Tommy Urhaug duly maintained his form; he beat Turkey’s Hamza Caliskan to claim the top prize (11-7, 11-6, 11-9).
Defeat for one Rio de Janeiro gold medallist, there was defeat for another; in the Men’s Singles Class 4 final, Abdullah Ozturk was beaten by Turkish compatriot Nesim Turan (4-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-3).
Silver medals for China but there was gold; in the Men’s Singles event there was success for Feng Panfeng in Class 3 as there was for Yan Shuo in Class 7 and for Ye Chao Qun in Class 8. Likewise in the Women’s Singles events, Gu Xiaodan won Class 4, Xiong Guiyan Class 8-9 and Zhao Xiaojing Class 10.
Success for China in the Women’s Singles events, there was also success for Europe; Sweden’s Anna-Carin Ahlquist won Class 3, Turkey’s Kubra Korkut secured the Class 6-7 title.
Meanwhile, in the one remaining event, Indonesia’s David Jacobs won Men’s Singles Class 10.
The individual events over; attention now turns to the team competitions; play concludes on Sunday 12th November.
Spanish Para Open: Results and forthcoming matches