by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

A successful finish to the day, one day later it was a successful start. In their opening fixture in Women’s Team Class 8-9, a competition organised on a group basis, they beat they top seeded partnership comprising Hungary’s Zsofia Arloy and Norway’s Aida Dahlen by two matches to nil.

The doubles was secured in four games (11-9, 10-12, 12-10, 11-7), before Olga Komleva-Gorshkaleva overcame Aida Dahlen to seal the victory (9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7).

Success against Zsofia Arloy and Aida Dahlen, was followed by victory by the same margin against Thailand’s Sumalee Suagtho and Kanlaya Kriabklang. In a similar manner the doubles was won (11-5, 11-5, 11-7), before Olga Komleva-Gorshkaleva accounted for Kanlaya Kriabklang (11-8, 11-1, 11-6).

One fixture remains for each team; Olga Komleva-Gorshkaleva and Elena Litvinenko now meet Chayanan Settisrikoedkun and Wachiraporn Thermoya, also from Thailand. They beat Sumalee Suagtho and Kanlaya Kriabklang by two matches to nil but lost by the same margin to Zsofia Arloy and Aida Dahlen.

A surprise defeat for the top seeds, not in the remaining Women’s Team events where the leading combinations ended the day unbeaten; it was a successful day in Class 1-4 for Croatia’s Andela Muzinic and Helena Dretar, as it was in Class 4-5 for Serbia’s Nada Matic and Borislava Peric-Rankovic.

Likewise, in Class 6-7, the combination formed by Kelly van Zon of the Netherlands who joined forces with Turkey’s Kubra Korkut and Canada’s Stephanie Chan remained unscathed. In a similar vein in Class 10, the Brazilian duo of Bruna Alexandre and Jennyfer Marques remained unbeaten. Also, not to be left out, in Class 11, the combination of Ukraine’s Natalya Kosmina and Poland’s Dorota Nowacka ended the day without defeat.

Meanwhile, in the Men’s Team events, the only top seeded pairs not to conclude the day unbeaten were British. In Class 1, Paul Davies and Tom Matthews lost to the combination of Hungary’s Endre Major and Frenchman Alan Papirer by two matches to nil; whilst in Class 6, injury forced the withdrawal of Martin Perry and David Wetherill.

Otherwise, it was a series of wins for the favourites with gold medal hopes alive and kicking.

In Class 2, the Slovak Republic’s Jan Riapos and Martin Ludrovsky remained unbeaten as in Class 3 did Ukraine’s Vasyl Petruniv and Oleksandr Yezyk. Likewise, in Class 4, it was a day without blemish for Frenchmen Florian Merrien and Maxime Thomas; a situation in Class 5 which also applied to the formation of Great Britain’s Jack Hunter-Spivey and Norway’s Tommy Urhaug.

Meanwhile in the Standing Classes, Ukraine enjoyed notable success. In Class 7, Maksym Nikolenko and Mykhaylo Popov remained unbeaten, in Class 8 did their colleagues Viktor Didukh and Ivan Mai followed suit.

Similarly, in Class 9, the trio comprising Finland’s Esa Miettinen, Russia’s Iurii Nozdrunov and Spain’s Juan Perez recorded wins in each fixture; an end result also achieved in Class 10 by Poland’s Patryk Chojnowski and Igor Misztal.

Success for the favourites, it was the same in Class 11 where the combination of Belgium’s Florian Van Acker and Hungary’s Peter Palos completed their first phase fixtures without surrendering a single individual match.

Play concludes in Lasko on Tuesday 9th May.

2017 Thermana Lasko 14th Slovenia Para Open: Latest Results (Monday 8th May)