by Ian Marshall, Editor

In his opening contest he beat the host nation’s Sayed Youssef, the top seed (7-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9), before repeating his Santiago semi-final success by overcoming Germany’s Jochen Wollmert, winner of no less than five Paralympic Games gold medals. In the South American city Stéphane Messi had prevailed in straight games (12-10, 11-6, 12-10), in the Mediterranean port it was the same (16-14, 11-9, 13-11).

Alas for Jochen Wollmert, it was third place in the group and no progress; in his first encounter of the day he had experienced defeat at the hands of Sayed Youssef (11-6, 11-5, 11-3).

Frenchman again

Defeat for the top seed in men’s singles class 7, it was the same for the second seed and again it was a Frenchman that caused the upset; Kevin Dourbecker accounted for Germany’s Bjoern Schnake (10-12, 11-8, 11-6, 12-14, 11-6).

Similar to Sayed Youssef, it was the only defeat of the day, thus second place in the group and a semi-final place secured. Kevin Dourbecker remained unbeaten to top the group.

Notable upsets and in the men’s singles events there were more. In class 9-10, Montenegro’s Filip Radovic, the top seed, suffered at the hands of Chinese Taipei’s Su Jin-Sian (14-12, 11-9, 8-11, 7-11, 12-10), second place in the group behind his nemesis being the outcome.

Meanwhile, in class 6 there were no great problems for Thailand’s Rungroj Thainiyom, the top seed, for the next in line, Russia’s Mars Gabdullin second place was his lot. He lost to Georgios Mouchthis of Greece (11-5, 9-11, 11-4, 11-8), who duly remained unbeaten to secure first place.

Caused surprises

Similarly, in the women’s singles events, the host nation’s Hanna Hammad and Chinese Taipei’s Lee Ya-Chu caused surprises. In a group organised event, in her one and only match of the day, Hanna Hammad, the defending champion, accounted for Russia’s Fatma Fattakhova, the top seed (11-9, 11-13, 13-11, 3-11, 15-13).

Meanwhile, in a competition with two stages, in the initial group phase Chinese Taipei’s Lee Ya-Chu upset the status quo; success against Japan’s Yukimi Chada, the no.3 seed (11-4, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8) meant first place in the group. Yukimi Chada duly finished in runners up spot.

Leading names succeed

Otherwise, it was a day without defeat for the leading names. In the men’s singles events, in addition to Rungroj Thainiyom, colleagues Yuttajak Glinbanchuen (class 3), Wanchai Chaiwut (class 4) and Phisit Wangphonphatanasiri (class 8) ended the day without defeat. In a similar manner it was a successful opening day for Spain Iker Sastre (class 1-2), Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Ming-Chih (class 5) and Hungary’s Peter Palos (class 11).

Also, in the women’s singles, with the exception Fatma Fattikhova, there were positives for the most prominent names.

It was a day without blemish for Florence Gossiaux- Sireau of France (class 1-2), as it was for Chinese Taipei’s Hsiao Shu-Chin (class 6) and Tian Shiau-Wen (class 10). Also there was success for India’s Bhavina Patel (class 3-4) and Hong Kong China’s Wong Ting Ting (class 11) as there was for the Hungarian duo of Zsofia Arloy (class 7-8) and Alexa Svitacs (class 9).

All individual events conclude on Sunday 2nd February.

2020 Egypt Para Open: Latest result and draws