Furthermore, there were wins for the host nation’s most prominent players; semi-final places being secured.
In the men’s singles events, Mohamed Saleh (Class 4), Sayed Youssef (Class 7) and Abdelrahman Abdelwahab (Class 10) all emerged unbeaten in their opening phase group contests to reserve penultimate round places.
Likewise, for top seeded names, there was notable success for France. In the men’s singles Alan Papirer (Class 1-2) and Florian Merrien (Class 3) enjoyed a trouble free day as in the women’s singles did Lucie Hautière (Class 7-8).
Noteworthy performances by Egyptian and French players, prominent Hungarian names also made their presence felt.
On men’s singles duty, Andras Csonka (Class 8) advanced to the last four as did Peter Palos (Class 11). Also, in a group organised women’s singles event, Alexa Szvitacs alongside Romania’s Ioana-Monica Tepelea (Class 9-10) remained unbeaten.
Meanwhile, India was not to be left out. Present in the women’s singles events, it was a profitable day for Sonalben Patel (Class 2-3) and for Bhavina Patel (Class 4-5).
Medals guaranteed, bronze the worst case scenario, in the men’s singles Great Britain’s Jack Hunter-Spivey (Class 5), Marios Chatzikyriakos of Greece and Belgium’s Laurens Devos (Class 9) all kept their medal hopes alive on a day when only one top seeded player experienced defeat.
In the women’s singles, Romania’s Gabriela Constantin (Class 6) was beaten by Iraq’s Najlah Al-Dayyeni (11-7, 11-9, 11-4) and had to settle for second place in her group.
Najlah Al-Dayyeni duly remained unbeaten, Gabriela Constantin progressed as the runner up to likewise reserve a semi-final place. They could well meet again, a potential encounter in the final is more than possible.
Finals of the men’s and women’s singles events will be played on Thursday 31st March.
