by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Fabien Lamirault and Benoît Besset finished ahead of the partnership formed by Great Britain’s Marc Bonner and Mexico’s Victor Reyes; the combination of Germany’s Tim Bunte and Christiaan Sterenborg of the Netherlands concluded matters in third place.

The success was as expected; the Frenchmen commenced matters as the top seeds; undoubtedly they were the clear favourites for the title.

However, in the two remaining events in the Men’s Team wheelchair categories there were surprise outcomes; matters did not progress as status predicted.

Pride of place on the scale of surprises went the pairing of Romania’s Dacian Makszim and Korea’s Jang Cheolhwan; the third seeds, the duo secured the Class 3 Team title.

They finished ahead of the top seeded French combination of François Geuljans and Florian Paire with the host nation’s second seeded duo of Benjamin Marotte and Vicenzo Nardello in third position.

Likewise in a group all-play-all organised event, it was success contrary to expectations for the partnership formed by Poland’s Krszysztof Zylka and Geradus van Grunsven of the Netherlands.

Competing in Class 4-5 and commencing proceedings as the second seeds, they concluded play ahead of the combination comprising Belgium’s Bert Brands and Germany’s Jörg Didion, the top seeds.

Third position finished in the hands of the French partnership comprising Nicolas Antier and Guillaume Pedrona.

Notably in the individual events, François Geuljans had won Class 3, Victor Reyes had been the runner up in Class 2, as had Krszysztof Zylka in Class 4 and Bert Brands in Class 5.

2017 Belgian Para Open: Review of Team Events (Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th October)

2017 Belgian Para Open: Latest Results