by Ian Marshall, Editor

At the final hurdle they recorded a 2-0 win against the top seeds, the Chinese Taipei combination of Cheng Ming-Chih and Lin Wen-Hsin to arrest the title.

Notably it was their second meeting of the tournament. One day earlier Hamza Caliskan and Jörg Didion had recorded a 2-1 win against the favourites en route to securing group first place.

Team titles in 2019

Both thus added to their recent team success; in November in Standskanaal at the Dutch Para Open Hamza Caliskan had partnered colleague Abdullah Ozturk to gold in class 4-5; one month earlier in Finland it had been the same outcome in the same event with Ali Ozturk added to the line-up.

Meanwhile, earlier in the year in March in the Italian Adriatic resort of Lignano, it had been gold in class five for Jörg Didion when partnering Great Britain’s Jack Hunter-Spivey.

Reverse scenario

Defeat for Chinese Taipei contrary to status; in the women’s team event it was the opposite scenario. In a group organised competition, Tian Shiau-Wen and Lin Tzu-Yu, the no.2 seeds, finished in first place ahead of the top seeded Turkish pairing comprising Neslihan Kavas and Ümran Ertis.

Most impressively, Tian Shiau-Wen, the women’s singles class 10 winner and Lin Tzu-Yu completed the event without the loss of a single individual match.

Most successful

Otherwise it was success for the top seeds.

In the women’s events, alongside Tian Shaiu-Wen and Yuri Tomoni, who had won class 7-8 in the individual events and on the penultimate day of play had partnered Fatma Fattakhova to success in team class 6-8, India’s Bhavina Patel emerged the most successful player.

Having secured the class 3-4 singles title, Bhavina Patel joined forces with Jordan’s Faten El-Elimat and Fatmeh Al-Azzam to emerged the class 1-5 team winners.

Individual and team success

Likewise, in the men’s events there were titles in both the individual and team events for Thailand’s Anurak Laowong and Rungroj Thainiyom alongside Hungary’s Peter Palos.

Anurak Laowong, partnered colleague Yuttajak Glinbanchuen, the player he had beaten in the men’s singles class 3 final to success in team class 1-3. Rungroj Thainiyom, the class 6 winner two days earlier; joined forces with Russia’s Mars Gabdullin and the Czech Republic’s Kristian Jelinek to clinch gold in the same category.

Titles in the same class in both disciplines, it was no different in class 11. Peter Palos followed individual success with team success in harness with Venezuela’s Denisos Martinez.

European success

Delight for Hungary, it was also joy in class 7-8, Andras Csonka and Gyula Zborai emerging victorious.

In a similar manner in class 9-10, again the top seeds claimed the top prize; Spain’s José Manuel Ruiz partnered the Czech Republic’s Ivan Karabec to gold.

Play concluded in Alexandria, the next destination is Wladyslawowo; the three day Polish Para Open commences on Thursday 20th February.

2020 Egypt Para Open: Latest result and draws