by Ian Marshall, Editor

Competing in women’s team class 2-3, Lucie Buron, partnering Chile’s Tamara Leonelli and occupying the second seeded position secured first place in a group organized event ahead of Mexico’s Edith Sigala and Martha Verdin, the top seeds. Notably. Martha Verdin had two days earlier emerged the gold medallist in women’s singles class 4-5.

“Playing team with Tamara has been a great experience. I’ve especially enjoyed being able to play athletes that I haven’t had the opportunity to in the past. I’m pleased with how I’ve performed out here and hope that I can take this forward into future tournaments.” Lucie Bouron

Similarly in the men’s team events, Anurak Laowong, class 3 winner in the individual events, partnered colleague Yuttajak Glinbanchuen to success in class 2-3, the pair recording a 2-0 win at the final hurdle in opposition to Chile’s Luis Bustamente and Alfonso Diaz.

Success for Thailand in class 4-5, the respective men’s singles winners Wanchai Chaiwut and Maitree Kongruang joined forces to claim gold; as in class 2-3, Chile had to settle for silver. Cristian Gonzalez and Maximiliano Rodriguez finished in runners up spot, a 2-0 defeat in the final being the order of proceedings.

Two titles for Thailand in the men’s team events, there was one more; Rungroj Thainiyom, the men’s singles class 6 winner, joined forces with Chalermpong Punpoo to secure the class 6-7 team gold. In the final they recorded a 2-1 win in opposition to Masachika Inoue and Kazuya Kaneko.

More success, it was the same for Koyo Iwabuchi, he partnered Takuya Nakajima to gold in class 9-10; in the final the duo posted a 2-0 win in opposition to the combination of Colombia’s Andres Duque and Mexico’s Miguel Vazquez, a pair they had met the previous day in the group stage when 2-1 victory margin had been the order of the day.

Outcomes in the men’s team events as anticipated, the top seeds emerging successful; however, there was one surprise result. In class 8 Canada’s Curtis Caron and Ian Kent, the second seeds, secured first place, in a group organized event, they finished ahead of Japan’s Takumi Shukunobe and Hiromi Sato, the top seeds, a 2-0 win being the decision in favour of the Canadians when they met.

Proceedings concluded in Cancun, the next stop is Alexandria, the three day ITTF Para Egypt Open commences on Wednesday 26th June.

ITTF Para Copa Cristina Hoffmann 2019: Full Results & Draws