by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Both were wins somewhat against expectations, especially for Ali Ozturk and Hamza Caliskan; they were not listed amongst the leading pairs.

In the group stage they had beaten Germany’s Valentin Baus and Jörg Didion, the top seeds by two matches to one, in addition to overcoming Korea’s Kim Kiyoung and Kim Kyungyoung by the same margin. Likewise, in their opening encounter, the Koreans has posted a two-one success in opposition to the German duo.

The end result was Valentin Baus and Jörg Didion finished in third place and thus departed proceedings. Ali Ozturk and Hamza Caliskan remained unbeaten to top the group, with Kim Kiyoung and Kim Kyungyoung in second place.

Both outfits duly progressed to the final where once again a two victory margin in favour of Turkey prevailed. Notably, at the semi-final stage, the Koreans had recorded a two-nil win in opposition to Frenchmen Nicolas Savant-Aira and Alexandre Delarque, the second seeds.

A surprise gold medal, for Kim Gitae and Toshiya Takahashi, less of a surprise; in a group organised Class 11 event, they started play as the second seeds. They ended matters unbeaten, one place ahead of Japan’s Takeshi Takemori and Koya Kato, the top seeds.

Unexpected winners and there were three more in the Men’s Team events with Japan enjoying more success.

Katsuyoshi Yagi and Masachika Inoue won Class 7, recording a two-one win over Brazil’s Israel Stroh and Paulo Salmin, the top seeds, prior to overcoming Ukraine’s Maksym Nikolenko and Bogdan Omelchuk by the same margin to claim gold.

Similarly, Koyo Iwabuchi and Nobuyuki Suzuki flew the flag for the Land of the Rising Sun; in Class 9, the second seeds, at the final hurdle they recorded a two-one win over Italy’s Mohamed Amine Kalem and Samuel Di Chiara to secure the top prize.

Gold against expectations for Japan; in Class 2 it was the same for Korea. Cha Soo Yong and Lee Jungi emerged as champions in an event where Stéphane Molliens and Vincent Boury of France, the top seeds, were forced to withdraw. Earlier in the group stage the Koreans had beaten Poland’s Rafal Czuper and Tomasz Jakimczuk, the second seeds, by two matches one; they did exactly the same when the teams met again in the final.

Meanwhile, in the remaining Men’s Team events, it was success for the top seeds.

Great Britain’s Rob Davies and Tom Matthews won Class 1, Germany’s Thomas Brüchle and Thomas Schmidberger secured the Class 3 title whilst the Turkish trio of Abdullah Ozturk, Nesim Turan and Suleyman Viral emerged victorious in Class 4.

In a similar manner, Denmark’s Peter Rosenmeier and Mihael Jensen claimed the Class 6 title, Class 8 was clinched by Ukraine’s Viktor Didukh and Ivan Mai, whilst the combination of Bulgaria’s Denislav Kodjabashev and Filip Radovic emerged as the Class 10 champions.

2017 Bayreuth Para Open: Complete Results