by Ian Marshall, Editor
In the men’s singles standing categories, class 10 witnessed and all Spanish final as José Manuel Ruiz Reyes, the top seed, beat Jorge Cardona, the no.2 seed (11-9, 11-2, 8-11, 13-11) to claim the top prize.
“It was difficult to play against a colleague from the national team in the final; he has been my good friend for six years. He knows me well and he knows the way I play. Now I must focus on improving my ranking to qualify for the Paralympics.” José Manuel Ruiz Reyes
Success for the top seed against the second seed, it was the same in class 9 with Juan Bautista Perez Gonzalez recovering from a two games to nil deficit to beat Tal Leibovitz of the United States (6-11, 2-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-4).
However, in class 11, the category for those with a learning difficulty, Eduardo Cuesta turned the tables; the no.2 seed, he beat Frenchman Lucas Creange, the top seed, to claim gold, like Juan Bautista Perez Gonzalez, losing the opening two games before winning the next three (8-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6).
Similarly in class 6, it was success for the second seed against the top seed but on this occasion not in favour of Spain. In what was a repeat outcome of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games final, Alvaro Valera was beaten in four games by Denmark’s Peter Rosenmeier (12-14, 11-7, 11-2, 11-9).
Impressive from Peter Rosenmeier, it was the same in class 8 from Belgium’s Marc Ledoux; the top seed, he secured the title at the final expense of Roy Van Der Burg of the Netherlands (11-6, 11-4, 11-3), the player who had caused a major semi-final upset by overcoming Italy’s Samuel de Chiara, the no.2 seed (11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9).
Titles for Europe, in class 7 it was success for Latin America with Brazil claiming both gold and silver; at the final hurdle, Paulo Salmin Filho, the no.4 seed, beat Israel Pereira Stroh, the no.3 seed (11-9, 11-3, 11-1) to claim the top prize.
Earlier, at the semi-final stage both Brazilians had beaten Japanese opponents. Paulo Salmin had overcome Katsuyoshi Yagi, the no.2 seed (16-14, 13-11, 11-9); in the opposite half of the draw, Israel Pereira Stroh had ended the progress of Masachika Inoue (11-13, 11-9, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6), the player who the previous day had accounted for the host nation’s Jordi Morales, the top seed (16-14, 9-11, 12-11, 11-9).
The individual events concluded, attention now turns to the team competitions, play concludes in Girona on Friday 22nd March.
2019 Para Costa Brava Open: Draws and Results
