It’s Challenger time once again for the good and great of the Para table tennis world, as another top-class cast prepare to battle it out for the medals in Lasko.
Stop four of this Challenger series heads to Slovenia, marking the finale of a three-week run that has taken us to Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Montengro’s Podgorica. And with the stars once again lined up, we’re sure it’s going to hit as hard as everything that has come before.
Who is Lined Up?
201 entries, 39 nations and a world of talent. That’s what Lasko has to look forward to, and as ever the big names are here in abundance.
In men’s competition, every category is inundated with medal hopefuls, so we’ll run through some of the biggest names in numerical order. Starting with MS1, and Rob Davies of Great Britain has won almost everything there is to win. The Rio 2016 Paralympic champion, but he’ll face stiff competition here from names including Italy’s Federico Falco.
Fabien Lamirault of France has already found so much success this year on the circuit, and the MS2 legend will go again in Lasko, while along with the likes of Jiri Suchanek.
It feels remiss to get this far into the lineup without mentioning the iconic Tommy Urhaug. With a medal cabinet bigger than comprehension, Urhaug is another who has impressed from Paris onwards and he’s hoping that cabinet will have new additions to it come the end of this week.
Elsewhere, the names keep coming. Will Bayley and Peter Rosenmeier are a further two. For the full list, head to the event section of our website.
And on the women’s side of competition, it’s stacked. Andela Muzinic (more to come in the next section!) had an event to remember last week and goes for gold again this week, while Germany’s Paris 2024 WS4 champion, Sandra Mikolaschek, aims to make a considerable impact on this series.
In WS7, Games medallists Kubra Korkut and Bly Twomey look destined to battle things out, One of Brazil’s shining lights, Bruna Alexandre, is lined up in WS10, with Kanami Furukawa aiming to impress in WS11.
Recapping Last Time Out
An event of wonder, surprises and the unprecedented skill you won’t find anywhere else. We left Podgorica just as how we knew we would, after a thrilling event that continued what has been a revolutionary event system.
In an event that saw big returns for the likes of Kelly van Zon and Najlah al Dayyeni, the two Olympic champions did what they do best: took home gold medals. But the biggest story arguably came from Croatia’s C3 specialist, Andela Muzinic.
Three events, three gold medals. It’s just what the reigning Paris 2024 champion does, as Muzinic completed a clean sweep of victories in singles, mixed doubles and women’s doubles. The Podgorica outing is just the latest big success story of a spectacular few months, beginning with that Paris victory and also taking in earlier season victories too. For a full rundown of the series so far and every result, click here.
There’s Plenty More To Come
The run of consistent Challenger events may come to an end this week, but there is much, much more for you to be ready for. And the best bit? It starts in the same place we are heading to now!
From 12-16 May, the first Elite competition in this new series takes place in Lasko, presented by I FEEL SLOVENIA 2025. It’s destined to be huge, with the finest on the planet heading to Slovenia for this marquee event. Following that comes two Future events in South America, as Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile play host.
How To Follow?
We’ll be bringing you the best of the action across two tables on our YouTube channel, while you can follow the results as they happen on our website. For the best of the days action, head to our social media channels to relive scores, images and clips.
