by Ian Marshall, Editor

Once again on duty in Class 7, Will Bayley, the no.2 seed and gold medallist at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, experienced a quarter-final defeat at the hands of Spain’s Jordi Morales (11-8, 11-6, 5-11, 8-11, 11-6).

The Spaniard now meets Egypt’s Moahmed Sayed, the no.4 seed, in the semi-finals; in the opposite half of the draw China’s Yan Shuo, the top seed, faces the in-form Jean-Paul Montanus of the Netherlands. In the round of the last eight, Jean-Paul Montanus beat Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Popov, the no.3 seed (12-10, 11-8, 11-8).

A quarter-final defeat for Will Bayley; it was the same in Class 8 for Viktor Didukh. The top seed, he was beaten by Poland’s Marcin Skrynecki (11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 13-11); he now meets Great Britain’s Ross Wilson, the no.3 seed. In the adjacent half of the draw, China’s Zhao Shuai, the no.2 seed, confronts Ivan Mai, the no.4 seed and like Viktor Didukh from Ukraine.

No place on the podium for Will Bayley and Viktor Didukh; for Alvaro Valera and Patryk Chojnowski, they are guaranteed medals: the question to be answered is the colour.

Competing in Class 6, at the semi-final stage Alvaro Valera, the top seed, meets Korea Republic’s Park Hongkyu, the no.4 seed; in the adjacent half of the draw Denmark’s Peter Rosenmeier, the no.2 seed, confronts Rungroj Thainiyom, the no.3 seed, in the battle of the two most recent Paralympic Games gold medallists.

Success for Alvaro Valera and Patryk Chojnowski, in both Class 9 and Class 11, the top seeds, both from Belgium, reserved penultimate round places. In Class 9, Laurens Devos meets Japan’s Koyo Iwabuchi, Russia’s Iuri Nozdrunov, the no.2 seed, opposes Spain’s Juan Bautista Perez Gonzalez, the no.3 seed.

Meanwhile, in Class 11, Florian Van Acker faces Australia’s Samuel Von Einem; Hungary’s Peter Palos, the no.2 seed, opposes Frenchman, Lucas Creange, the no.3 seed.

Play at the 2018 ITTF World Para Championships concludes on Saturday 20th October.

2018 World Para Championships: Results and Draws