by Ian Marshall, Editor

After enjoying success in women’s singles class 2-4, competing in the same category, Anna-Carin Ahlquist partnered Great Britain’s Lucie Bouron to gold; in a group organised event, the duo concluded play ahead of the combination formed by Argentina’s Maria Garrone and Colombia’s Manuela Guapi.

Third place finished in the hands of the trio formed by Mexico’s Edith Sigala, Cuba’s Yanelis Silva and Venezuela’s Yoleidy Fernandez.

“I’m so pleased to have won gold with Anna-Carin. We had some great doubles matches which helped us to take first place. I’ve had some really positive matches out here so I’m hoping to take this forward into next year.” Lucie Bouron

Similar good form

Continued good form from Anna-Carin Ahlquist, it was the same from José Manuel Ruiz, the men’s singles class 10 winner; he partnered the Brazil’s Carlos Carbinatti to success in men’s team class 9-10.

First place in the initial stage group; the pair recorded a 2-0 win when facing Great Britain’s Jack Stockdale and Shae Thakker, prior to securing a 2-1 success in opposition to Japan’s Nariaki Kakita and Hayuma Abe to seal the title. In the counterpart semi-final, Nariaki Kakita and Hayuma Abe had ousted the team comprising Puerto Rico’s Kevin Rivera and Shaquille Rivera, who partnered Cuba’s Erich Manso, a 2-0 success being the margin of victory.

“I’m pleased to win a medal in the team event with Jack. We started slowly but I’m happy that we were able to pick up our performances to get the bronze.” Shae Thakker

Top seeds succeed

Gold for Anna-Carin Ahlquist and Lucie Bouron, the same for José Manuel Ruiz and Carlos Carbinatti; the outcomes were as anticipated, both pairs commenced matters the top seeds. It was the same in the remaining team events.

In the women’s class 6-10, Romania’s Ioana-Monica Tepelea and Gabriela Constantin struck gold. In a group event, runners up spot went to Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic and Camelia Ciripan also from Romania; third place to Mexico’s Claudia Perez and Costa Rica’s Aneth Araya.

Recovery

Meanwhile, in men’s class 1-5, after finishing in second place in their group behind the partnership comprising Argentina’s Elias Romero and Geradus Van Grunsven of the Netherlands; Venezuela’s Roberto Quijada and Cuba’s Yunier Fernandez eventually emerged successful.

At the semi-final stage they recorded a 2-0 win again the combination of Italy’s Francesco Baggio who joined forces with Japan’s Shinichi Yoshida and Kentaro Doi, before posting a 2-1 success in opposition to Chile’s Luis Bustamente and Maximiliano Rodriguez.

In the counterpart semi-final Luis Bustamente and Maximiliano Rodriguez had recorded a 2-1 win against Elias Romero and Geradus Van Grunsven.

Same situation

Success for the top seeds, it was no different in men’s class 6-8; the Czech Republic’s Richard Csejtey joined forces with Japan’s Kazuya Kaneko and Arufuahirokazu Tateishi to secure the top prize.

Following a 2-0 win against Great Britain’s Alex Bland and Ryan Henry, they beat Colombia’s José Vargas and Diego Henao to claim gold. A 2-1 margin of victory was the outcome. In the adjacent semi-final, José Vargas and Diego Henao had secured a 2-0 success in opposition to Marco Makkar of the United States and Canada’s Gabriel Seguin.

“I’m happy to have won another medal, although obviously disappointed that we couldn’t go further in the competition but frankly we were beaten by the better team.” Alex Bland

“It’s been a tough competition for me having some close matches against good players but I’m happy to win a bronze medal with Alex and we both played well.” Ryan Henry

Medals for Great Britain and note the name of one newcomer to the group; Simon Heaps competed in men’s singles class 5 and with Daniel Bullen in men’s team class 1-5. In 1970 he won the cadet boys’ singles title at the European Youth Championships staged in Teeside; earlier this year owing to diabetes he suffered a leg amputation.

A break now in proceedings, the next tournament on the Para calendar is the 2020 ITTF Chile Open to be staged in Santiago from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th January.

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