by Ian Marshall, Editor

Within a distance of less than 40 miles, overall 462 men and 260 women, according to my abacus that is 722 players, are competing in international competition.

Add coaches, umpires and officials surely we reach the 1,000 mark; has the state of international competition ever been healthier?

In Lasko, there are 39 men out a possible 44 players entered, who gained medals last year at the Para World Championships, also held in Lasko; looking back to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, where only one bronze medal as opposed to two at the World Championships was awarded, in the corresponding events the numbers read 29 from a possible 33 in total.

It is very much the same for the women. In total, 32 medallists from a possible 40 at the 2018 World Para Championships appear on the entry list; from Rio de Janeiro, it is 22 from a potential 30 in number.

Moreover, in the women’s singles events, there is a Class 1 and separately a Class 2 competition; at both the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and the 2018 Para World Championships those classes were combined. Thus in each on the men’s singles and women’s singles events, there is the full complement of 11 classes.

Also, you can add to the scenario the fact that each class boasts players who won medals at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and at the 2018 Para World Championships.

Gold medallists in both gatherings are on duty. In the men’s singles the names of Frenchman Fabien Lamirault (class 2), China’s Feng Panfeng (class 3) and Denmark’s Peter Rosemeier (class 6) alongside Belgium’s Florian Van Acker (class 11) appear on the entry list. Likewise for the women, China’s Xu Juan (class 3) and Mao Jingdian (class 8), in addition to Serbia’s Borislava Peric-Rankovic (class 4) all compete.

Meanwhile in the men’s singles events, in the wheelchair classes (class 1 to class 5), every Rio Paralympic Games medallist in listed; it is the same in class 7, class 8 and class 11. Likewise, all the 2018 World Championships medallists are present in classes 1 to 4, as well as in class 8, class 9 and class 10.

Similarly for the women, all the Rio medallists are on duty in class 3, class 4, class 8 and class 9; from the World Championships in class 3, class 4, class 6, class 8 and class 9.

Two tournaments at the same time, quite incredible numbers; surely unrivalled, more than one record of some sort broken. Intense competition, tense time ahead, at the end of the day it will be the survival of the fittest; that’s the organisers not the players!

Thermana Lasko Slovenia Para Open 2019: Latest results and main draws