by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Silver medallists at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, the German combination of Thomas Brüchle and Thomas Schmidberger overcame Ukraine’s Vasy Petruniv and Olekdandr Yezyk to secure the Class 3 title.

A four games doubles success (9-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-8) was followed by a straight games win for Thomas Schmidberger against Olekdandr Yezyk (11-5, 11-1, 11-5) to seal the title.

Success in style for Germany; in Class 4 it was the same for the Turkish duo of Abdullah Ozturk and Nesim Turan in opposition to the French combination of Maxime Thomas and Florien Merrien. The doubles set the tone with a four games win being recorded (11-7, 11-13, 11-8, 11-6). Abdullah Ozturk brought matters to a conclusion by overcoming Florien Merrien (11-6, 12-10, 11-8).

Imposing, it was the very same from Ukraine’s Maksym Nikolenko and Mykaylo Popov in Class 7 when facing Thailand’s Rungroj Thainiyom and Charlermpong Punpoo.

The doubles sent the Ukrainians on the road to victory by posting a straight games win (12-10, 11-1, 11-7), before Maksym Nikolenko beat Rungroj Thainiyom (11-7, 11-9, 11-7) to seal the victory.

“Prior to the World Championships, we had a lot of good practice sessions and prepared very hard. Mykhaylo and I have very good team spirit; we supported each other during the doubles match. Playing against Thainiyom, I tried to play with my forehand as much as I could; it is not so effective playing with my backhand.” Maksym Nikolenko.

Success for Ukraine but in Class 10 it was defeat at the final hurdle. IIuri Nozdrunov and Pavel Lukyanov lost to Poland’s Patryk Chojnowski and Igor Miszal.

Vitaly Patryk Chojnowski and Igor Miszal won the doubles in straight games to allay any nerves (11-6, 11-5, 11-8). Patryk Chojnowski returned to conclude matters; he fulfilled the goal set, he accounted for Pavel Lukyanov in four games (11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6) to secure victory and goal.