by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

They needed the full three matches to clinch victory against the Israeli combination of Inbal Bechar and Karmit Dor.

Mirjana Lucic and Sandra Paovic secured the doubles (13-11, 11-9, 24-22), before Karmit Dor accounted for Mirjana Lucic (11-8, 12-10, 7-11, 11-9). Matters level, Sandra Paovic sealed the Croatian victory by overcoming Inbal Bechar (11-2, 11-8, 11-2).

“The toughest match has got to be the doubles, because I have some difficulty with my movement. It was very stressful for Mirjana and myself, as we have to try to win the points within two or three shots. The second player from Israel is quite new and did not have so much experience so we took advantage of that to win the doubles match. I think I played pretty well in the singles match.” Sandra Paovic

Great credit must go to Sandra Paovic, who is a Class 6 player and thus was competing against adversaries with a far less disability.

However, the fact that she competed at high level, notably the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, prior to suffering extensive injuries following a car accident in late January 2009, gave her the edge in experience.

A hard fought win for Croatia; in the same group Turkey needed the full three matches to overcome Romania. Neslihan Kavas and Merve Demir secured the doubles against Iona-Monica Tepelea and Merve Demir (11-2, 11-3, 11-4), before Iona-Monica Tepelea overcame Hilal Turkkan (13-11, 14-12, 7-11, 11-6) to level the engagement. Neslihan Kavas duly ended any Romanian recovery hopes; she beat Teodora Preda (11-2, 11-4, 11-2) to seal the Turkish win.

Meanwhile, in the same group as Bruna Alexandre and Danielle Rauen, Russia emerged successful in convincing style.

The combination of Olga Komleva-Gorshkaleva and Elena Litvinenko recorded a two-nil win in opposition to the Kazakhstan partnership of Yelena Mazurenko and Lyudmila Fokina.

2017 World Para Team Championships: Draw and Latest Results