by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

In a group organised event she finished ahead of Norway’s Aida Dahlen, Suzan Klomp of the Netherlands and the host nation’s Lawanna Viers.

The crucial contest was the win recorded against Aida Dahlen; on the current Women’s Class 8 World Rankings, Aida Dahlen, the reigning European champion, is listed at no.3, Josephine Medina is two places below in the no.5 spot.

Impressively Josephine Medina recorded a straight games win (12-10, 16-14, 11-5) to secure first position in the group. The only defeat for Aida Dahlen, she duly concluded matters in second place.

Meanwhile, in the remaining Women’s Singles categories, completed on the first day of action, it was first place for the top seeds.

Austria’s Doris Mader won Class 2-3, finishing ahead of the host nation’s Pamela Fontaine and Ireland’s Rena McArron Rooney. Tara Proffit and Cynthia Ranik, both like Pamela Fontaine from the United States finishing in fourth and fifth places respectively.

Success as predicted for Doris Mader, it was the same in Class 6-7 for Kelly van Zon of the Netherlands. She secured the top prize, overcoming Germany’s Stephanie Grebe at the semi-final stage by the very narrowest of margins (6-11, 11-4, 10-12, 11-7, 11-9), before accounting for China’s Zu Mingyu (12-10, 13-11, 4-11, 6-11, 11-8) to seal the title.

In the counterpart semi-final, Zu Mingyu had beaten Canada’s Stephanie Chan.

One day earlier Israel’s Caroline Tabib had won the Women’s Singles Class 4-5 title; in a group organised event she had finished ahead of Chinese Taipei’s Hsiao Shu-Chin and Chen Su-Fen with Jennifer Johnson of the United States in fourth place.

Play concludes on Friday 16th December with the finals of the team events.

2016 United States Para Open: Draw and Latest Results