06 May 2018

Team events concluded at the 2018 Slovakia Para Open in Bratislava; it was in the wheelchair categories where the most surprises occurred; in the seven events on offer, when play ended on the evening of Sunday 6th May, five had produced upsets.

Conversely in the standing competitions life was very different, there were just two surprise winners.

by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

Croatia’s Pavao Jozic and Vjekoslav Gregorovic emerged as the winners of Men’s Team Class 6. In form, at the final hurdle they beat Chile’s Cristian Dettoni and Matias Pino Lorca by two matches to nil, having at the semi-final stage recorded a two-one win over the top seeded Spanish partnership of Alvaro Valera and Alberto Seoane.

Similarly in Class 9-10, the Czech Republic’s Ivan Karabec and David Pulpan upset the odds; after accounting for the top seeded pairing of Montenegro’s Filip Radovic and Italy’s Lorenzo Cordua, the top seeds by two matches to one, they defeated Great Britain’s Ashley Facey-Thompson and Joshua Stacey two-nil to claim the title.

Meanwhile, in the Wheelchair events, Italy’s Federico Falco and Andrea Borgato emerged the surprise winners in Class 1 beating the top seeds Korean outfit comprising Nam Kiwon, Cho Jaekwon and Park Sungjoo by two matches to one in the final.

Likewise in Class 2 the combination formed by Korea’s Park Jincheol and Mexico’s Victor Reyes upset the order of merit; they beat the French pairing of Fabian Lamirault and Julien Michaud to secure the top prize; a two-one victory margin being the order of the day. Somewhat disappointingly for the host nation the top seeded combination of Jan Riapos, Martin Ludrovsky and Lukas Klizan experienced a two-nil quarter-final defeat at the hands of the Czech Republic’s Jiri Suchanek and Martin Zvolanek.

Success for Jiri Suchanek and Martin Zvolanek but the success was short lived; at the semi-final stage, they experienced a two-nil defeat at the hands of Fabian Lamirault and Julien Michaud.

The top prize against the odds, it was the same for the pairing formed by Spain’s Roberto Rodriguez and Jason Van Emburgh of the United States; they won Class 3 beating Poland’s Maciej Nalepka and Mariusz Czerwinski by two matches to nil in the final. Pertinently, at the quarter-final stage they ousted the French pairing of Florian Merrien and Stéphane Gil Martins, the top seeds; an impressive two-nil margin of victory was the outcome.

Good form, it was the same in Class 4 from Poland’s Rafal Lis and Krzysztof; they secured the title beating the top seeded combination Korea’s Kim Junggil and Egypt’s Mohamed Eid Saleh in the semi-finals, before accounting for Thailand’s Wanchai Chaiwut and Niyom Nachai to arrest the title. Both contests witnessed two-nil victories.

Surprises in the wheelchair classes in the Men’s Team events, there was one unexpected outcome in the Women’s Team categories. Turkey’s Nergiz Altintas and Hatice Duman secured the Class 3 title beating the top seeded Croatian pairing of Andela Muzinic and Helena Dretar in the final.

Unexpected outcomes, in the remaining wheelchair events, it was success for the top seeds. In the Women’s competitions, Serbia’s Borislava Peric-Rankovic and Nada Matic won the Class 4-5 event; for the men, the Turkish combination of Abdullah Ozturk, Ali Ozturk and Hamsa Caliskan struck gold in Class 5.

Somewhat similarly, in the Women’s events, Korea’s Kim Seokok and Lee Kunwoo secured the Class 6-7 title; the Class 8-9 title was clinched by Turkey’s Neslihan Kavas and Kubra Korkut, whilst the Brazilian trio of Bruna Alexandre, Danielle Rauen and Jennyfer Parinos emerged as the Class 10 champions.

Noteworthy performances, it was the same in Class 11 from the pairing of Russia’s Elena Prokofeva and Ukraine’s Natalya Kosmina; they emerged successful in a group organised event.

Gold for Ukraine, there was also gold in Men’s Team Class 7 and in Class 8; in the former Maksym Nikolenko and Mykhaylo Popov emerged successful, in the latter it was the top prize for Viktor Didukh and Ivan Mai.

Victory as expected, in Class 11 it was the same for Japan’s Takeshi Takamori and Koya Kato.

Play in Bratislava concluded, attention now turns to Lasko, the Slovenian Para Open commences on Wednesday 9th May.

2018 Slovakia Para Open: Latest Results

Paralympics Para Table Tennis Slovakia Para Open