by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

In the group stage it had been a two-nil victory margin; in the final the outcome was somewhat closer, the contest went the full five match distance.

Bobi Simion and Georgis Mouchthis won the doubles (11-5, 11-9, 13-11), before Martin Perry beat Georgis Mouchthis (7-11, 14-12, 11-8, 11-6) and with the overall score in the fixture level, Bobi Simion accounted for Paul Karabardak (11-4, 6-11, 11-7, 11-8).

“We are disappointed not to get gold but it has been a good solid team effort by everyone involved. Georgios and Bobi are a very difficult doubles team because of their style of play, so I thought coming into the first singles match I just wanted to continue my form and the way that I was playing. I feel that I did that so I was happy to get the win and it meant that Paul had a crack to go on and win gold. We can’t fault anyone’s performance. Bobi is a top player and very tricky and Paul gave it everything. Happy with the silver and disappointed it couldn’t be gold but it is good to finish the tournament on a high in terms of my singles performance.” Martin Perry

Defeat for the top seeds, in the standing categories in the Men’s Team events, it was the same in Class 7 and in Class 9. In the former, at the final hurdle the Ukraine trio comprising Mykhaylo Popov, Bogdan Omelchuk and Viktor Karp experienced a two-nil defeat at the hands of Thailand’s Rungroj Thainiyom and Charlermmpong Punpoo. In the latter, in the title deciding contest the combination of Finland’s Esa Miettinen and Hungary’s Dezso Bereczki lost to Japan’s Koyo Iwabuchi and Nobuyuki Suzuki. Both finals witnessed two matches to nil score-lines.

Silver medals for top seeded outfits; not in Class 8 nor in Class 10. Ukraine’s Viktor Didukh and Ivan Mai emerged the Class 8 champions beating Sweden’s Emil Andersson and Linus Karlsson by two matches to one at the final hurdle. In Class 10, the partnership formed by Bulgaria’s Igor Misztal and Montenegro’s Filip Radovic reserved the top step of the podium accounting for Poland’s Igor Misztal and Lorenzo Cordua by two matches to one in the final.

Meanwhile, in Class 11 it was success for the dream team, the two most recent Paralympic Games gold medallists combined to secure the top prize. In the final, Belgium’s Florian Van Acker and Hungary’s Peter Palos overcame the French pairing of Lucas Creange and Antoine Zhao by two matches to nil.

2018 Slovenia Para Open: Latest Results