by Ian Marshall, Editor
In the men’s team events, Fabien Lamirault partnered Stéphane Molliens to success in class 1-2; Thomas Schmidberger joined forces with Thomas Brüchle to secure gold in class 3; Abdullah Ozturk allied with Nesim Turan to emerge the class 4 champions.
Likewise, in class 8, it was success for Viktor Didukh in partnership with Ivan Mai; in class 9 for Patryk Chojnowski alongside Igor Misztal. Not to be left out in the women’s team events, in class 4-5, Borislava Peric-Rankovic paired with Nada Matic to claim the top prize.
Top seeds prevail
Success and success as predicted, all started proceedings in the top seeded position. Likewise, Great Britain’s Paul Karabardak and David Wetherill justified their top seeded position in class 6, as did Spain’s Alvaro Valera and Jordi Morales in class 7.
“I didn’t even have the energy to celebrate at the end; that is how tired I am. Sometimes my bones turn to concrete and it is hard to get the feel for the ball but I was just pleased to get the win to be honest. We were expected to win so there was a bit of pressure on us which is why it is nice to come through. It has been a good week and I would have taken it five days ago.” David Wetherill
“Our doubles massively improved today but it helped that the teams we were playing in the doubles today were not so awkward. They were more orthodox and easier to play even though they were better teams. I think that was important because when you win the doubles it puts you in the driving seat. It is fantastic to be the best team in Europe.” Paul Karabardak
Similarly, Poland’s Patryk Chojnowski and Igor Misztal justified their top billing in class 10, a situation that applied also in class 11 to the French combination of Lucas Creange, Antoine Zhao and Timothe Ivaldi. The top prize as status advised, in the women’s team events, it was the same in class 1-3 for Croatia’s Helena Dreter and Adela Muzinic, as it was in class 11 for Russia’s Anzhelika Kosacheva and Maria Galkina.
Surprise winners
Wins as anticipated but there were surprises. In the men’s team events, Turkey’s Hamza Caliskan and Ali Ozturk emerged the unexpected winners; they recorded a 2-0 win in the final against top seeded Frenchmen Alexandre Delarque and Nicolas Savant-Aira to arrest the title.
Impressive from Hamza Caliskan and Ali Ozturk, it was the same in class 9 from Ukraine’s Lev Kats and Maksym Nikolenko. After recording a 2-0 penultimate round success against the top seeds, the Belgian combination of Ben Despineux, Laurens Devos and Mark Ledoux; they emerged successful by the same margin against the no.2 seeds, Sweden’s Emil Andersson and Lev Daniel Gustafsson to arrest the title.
Mixed fortunes for Poland
Unexpected outcomes, it was the same in the women’s team competition with Poland experiencing both sides of the coin.
Contrary to expectations Dajana Jastrzebska and Katarzyna Marszal emerged victorious in class 6-8. They recorded a 2-1 semi-final success against the no.2 seeds, Russia’s Raisa Chebanika and Elena Litvinenko prior to securing victory in the same manner in the final in opposition to Germany’s Stephanie Grebe and Juliane Wolf. The previous day, the top seeds, the French pairing of Thu Kamkasomphu and Anne Barneoud had experienced a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Dajana Jastrzebska and Katarzyna Marszal, a result that meant third place in the group and elimination.
An unexpected success for Poland, in class 10, it was a somewhat unexpected defeat; at the final hurdle, the top seeded pairing of Natalia Partyka and Karoline Pek suffered a 2-0 reverse at the hands of Turkey’s Merve Demir and Umran Ertis.
Play concluded in Helsingborg, attention now turns to Lahti, the 2019 Finland Para Open commences on Friday 11th October.
