by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Likewise further notable names, promoting the cause of the host nation, José Manuel Ruiz, Juan Bautista Perez and Jorge Cardona will all be on duty in Alicante. At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games they secured bronze in Men’s Team Class 9-10.

However, if the celebrated Spaniards are to gain medals on home soil, they will have to be on their mettle; most creditable opponents are Alicante bound.

Furthermore, there is one name listed who is no stranger to José Manuel Ruiz, Juan Bautista Perez and Jorge Cardona; Lian Ho will be in action, in Rio de Janeiro alongside Ma Lin, in Men’s Team Class 9-10, he proved the nemesis of the Spaniards in the South American city.

Successful in Rio de Janeiro and there are more such players who gained medals, named on the Alicante entry list.

Gold medallists in the Men’s Singles event, China’s Feng Panfeng (Class 3), Cao Ningning (Class 5) and Zhao Shuai (Class 8) appear on the entry list, as does Turkey’s Abdullah Ozturk (Class 4),

Also, in addition to Alvaro Valera, further silver Rio silver medallists will be in Men’s Singles action. China’s Guo Xingyuan (Class 4) and Poland’s Patryk Chojnowski (Class 10) will compete as will bronze medal winning Yan Shuo (Class 7), also from China.

Most pertinently, at the recent Asian Para Championships in Beijing; Feng Panfeng, Yan Shuo, Zhao Shuai and Lian Hao all struck gold in the individual events, as did Abdullah Ozturk and Patryk Chojnowski at the just concluded European Para Championships.

Similarly in the Women’s Singles event in Alicante, there are those who enjoyed success in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games individual events. Gold medallists, China’s Mao Jingdian (Class 8) and Liu Meng (Class 9) will be in action, as will silver medal winning colleague Zhang Miao (Class 4). Also, a silver medallist in Rio de Janeiro, Kubra Korkut (Class 7) will be on duty.

High level competition, in no event more so than in Women’s Singles Class 3; China’s Xue Juan and Li Qian line up alongside Sweden’s Anna-Carin Ahlquist, the respective gold silver and bronze medallists in Rio de Janeiro.

Similarly, as with the men, Xue Juan, Zhang Miao and Mao Jingdian all secured gold at the recent Asian Para Championships as did Anna-Carin Ahlqhuist at the 2017 European Para Championships.

A high level of competition await, the focus is on Alicante.

Spanish Para Open: Results and forthcoming matches