by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager
Pride of place undoubtedly went to Gloria Wong Sze and Lin Tzu-Yu; the fifth and lowest rated outfit in the group organised Women’s Team Class 9-10 event, they remained unbeaten throughout, finishing in first place ahead of Indonesia’s Shella Radayana and Hana Resti, the top seeds.
Somewhat differently Wong Chi Yin and Lam Kai Wai started proceeding as the no.2 seeds, as did Natthawut Thinthet and Thirayu Chueawong.
Wong Chi Yin and Lam Kai Wai secured the Men’s Class 9 title beating the Malaysian combination of Chee Chao Ming, Chin Zi Rong and Hong Chin Sing in the final; they succeeded by two matches to nil and thus repeated their success of earlier in the competition when they had met in the group stage. On that occasion, the same victory margin had also been posted.
Earlier, at the semi-final stage, the Hong Kong duo had recorded a two-nil win against the top seeded combination of the Netherlands’ Tonnie Heijnen and Germany’s Jochen Wollmert; the European outfit having finished in second place in their group behind Iran’s Mohammad Ghanbari, Naser Dehghanpour and Ali Yazdiravandi. A place in the semi-final for the Iranians but an abrupt end to their travels; they suffered a two-nil defeat at the hands of the champions elect.
Good form from Wong Chi Yin and Lam Kai Wai; it was the same from Natthawut Thinthet and Thirayu Chueawong. In a group organised Men’s Class 1-2 competition they finished ahead of Iran’s Mehran Vaslati and Majid Arabi. The top seeded Chinese Taipei combination of Huang Ching-Hung, Chen Fu-Kei and Chen Hua-Kuo ended matters in third place.
Otherwise, it was gold for the top seeds.
In the Men’s Team wheelchair events, Hong Kong’s Ko Hang Yee and Choi Siu Hung won Class 3, Chinese Taipei’s Lin Gow-Ching and Ko Kun-Nan secured the top prize in Class 4, whilst in Class 5 the host nation’s Agus Sutanto and Tatok Hardiyanto emerged as the champions.
Success for Indonesia, it was the same in the standing categories. David Jacobs and Komet Akbar claimed the Class 10 title but the nation to enjoy the greatest success was Thailand. Rungroj Thainiyom, lining up alongside Chalermpong Punpoo and Phitsadan Oiuyen, prevailed in Class 6-7; Phisit Wangphonphathansiri, Komrit Charitsat and Panupong Santaya reserved the top step of the podium in Class 8.
Notable performances and in the Women’s events there were notable efforts from the host nation.
Tarsilem Tarsilem and Osrita Muslim won Class 2-5; Hamida Hamida and Suwarti Suwarti joined forces with Kelly Van Zon of the Netherlands to secure Class 6-8 gold.
Play concluded in Jakarta, the next Open International Para tournament on the list is the China Open to be staged in Beijing from Thursday 30th August to Sunday 2nd September.
However, preceding the tournament in Beijing, Para table tennis events are included in the forthcoming 2018 European Universities Games to be held in Coimbra, Portugal, the overall dates for table tennis are from Sunday 15th July to Saturday 28th July.
2018 Indonesia Para Open: Results and Draws