Tournaments

22 Feb 2020

Titles secured one day earlier, Ireland’s Colin Judge alongside the French pairing of Alexandre Delarque and Nicolas Savant-Aira emerged the most successful male players on duty at the 2020 ITTF Para Polish Open in Wladyslawowo on Saturday 22nd February.

They added team titles to their individual successes; in the female competitions, Turkey’s Neslihan Kavas and Merve Demir alongside Germany’s Julianne Wolf followed suit.

by Ian Marshall, Editor

Juliane Wolf joined forces with colleague Stephanie Grebe and Italy’s Elena Elli to secured team class 6-8 gold; the top seeds, they finished ahead of Hungary’s Zsofia Arloy and Dora Molnar.

Similarly, in a group administered event in class 9-10, the top seeds Neslihan Kavas and Merve Demir combined with colleague Ümran Ertis to reserve first place, runners up spot finishing in the hands of Russia’s Olga Komleva-Gorshkaleva and Anastasiia Kostwnevich.

Wins as expected but in the women’s team event there were upsets. In the initial group stage of play in class 2-5 Italy’s Michela Brunelli and Carlotta Ragazzini recorded a 2-1 win against the top seeded Croatian duo of Andela Muzinic and Helena Dretar; in the final they did exactly the same.

Contrary to status Michela Brunelli partnered Carlotta Ragazzini

 

Runners up spot for the top seeds, it was the same in class 11; in a group organised event, Hong Kong’s Ng Mui Wui finished next in line to Poland’s Krystyna Lysiak and Dorota Nowacka.

More success

Meanwhile, in the men’s team events, Alexandre Delarque and Nicolas Savant-Aira added to their golden haul in Wladyslawowo by securing the class 4-5 title. In the final they recorded a 2-1 win against the combination of Korea Republic’s Kim Kiyoung and Turkey’s Hamsa Caliskan; the success as expected, they commenced play the top seeds.

Conversely, the second title gained by Colin Judge was not to be expected. In the individual event he had upset the order of merit, in team class 3 partnering Israel’s Shmuel Ben Asor he did the same. Not seeded, the duo secured the title at the final expense of Serbia’s Mladen Ciric and Sinisa Bradasevic, a 2-1 win being the victory margin.

Shmul Ben Asor (left) and (right) Colin Judge emerged the surprise winners in men’s team class (Photo: Bogdan Pasek)

 

Furthermore, the Serbians were in form, at the semi-final stage they had secured a 2-0 win against the partnership of Germany’s Jan Guertler and Frenchman Sylvain Noël.

More surprises

A surprise for Colin Judge and Shmuel Ben Asor; they were not alone.

Poland’s Tomasz Jakimczuk and Italy’s Federico Crosara emerged the victors in class 1-2, finishing ahead of the Korea Republic’s Joo Youngdae and Kang Changyoung, the top seeds.

Success against the odds, it was the same for the host nation’s Maksym Chudzicki and Michal Deigsler in class 7. At the final hurdle they recorded a 2-0 win against the combination of Croatia’s Pavao Jozic and Denmark’s Henrik Brammer, the 2-0 penultimate round winners against Germany’s top seeded Bjoern Schnake and Jochen Wollmert.

Antoine Zhao partnered Timothe Ivaldi to gold in men’s team class 11 (Photo: Bogdan Pasek)

 

Likewise in class 11 there was a major surprise, not seeded, the French pairing of Antoine Zhao and Timothe Ivaldi secured the title at the final expense of Japan’s Takeshi Takemori and Yudai Kikawada, the no.2 seeds. A 2-1 margin of victory was the outcome, the same result as one round earlier when they had ousted the top seeded partnership of Hungary’s Peter Palos and Japan’s Yuki Kinoshita.

Favourites prevail

Otherwise in the men’s team events, the top seeds prevailed. Great Britain’s Martin Perry and Italy’s Matteo Parenzan joined forces to win class 6; in a group event they finished ahead of the Greek pairing formed by Mario Chatzikyriakos and Georgios Mouchthis.

Similarly, the outfit comprising Frenchman Thomas Bouvais and Belgium’s Marc Ledoux struck gold in class 8, as did Russia’s Iurii Nozdrunov and Pavel Lukyanov in class 9-10.

Pavel Luyanov partnered Iurii Nozdrunov to gold in class 9-10 (Photo: Bogdan Pasek)

 

In the title deciding contests Thomas Bouvais and Marc Ledoux recorded a 2-0 win against Slovakia’s Richard Csejtey and Great Britain’s Billy Shilton; Iurii Nozdrunov and Pavel Lukyanov posted a 2-1 success in opposition to the French partnership of Gilles de la Bourdonnaye and Lucas Didier.

Play concluded in Wladyslawowo, attention now turns to the ITTF Costa Brava Spanish Para Open 2020; play commences in Platja d’Aro on Thursday 5th March.

Paralympics Para Table Tennis 2020 Polish Para Open Colin Judge Nicolas Savant-Aira Neslihan Kavas Merve Demir Alexandre Delarque Julianne Wolf
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Day 3 - 2020 ITTF Polish Para Open