by Ian Marshall, Editor

In the women’s singles competition the major surprise accrued in class 4-5; Korea Republic’s Jung Younga duly finished in first place in her group, as her top seeded position suggested. However, for the second seed, Great Britain’s Sue Gilroy it was not the best of days. She finished in third place behind Chinese Taipei’s Lu Pi-Chun and Egypt’s Faiza Mahmoud.

Otherwise, in the women’s singles, the leading names enjoyed a most successful day; the top seeds imposing their authority on play.

Notably, in class 2-3, Croatia’s Helena Dretar ended the day unbeaten as did Russia’s Maliak Alieva in class 6. Similarly, Kelly van Zon of the Netherlands, one of most successful Paralympians of all time, enjoyed a trouble free day in class 7-8; a situation that also applied to Australia’s Melissa Tapper in class 9-10 and Russia’s Elena Prokofeeva in class 11.

Notable upset, third place

Meanwhile, in the men’s singles events, the major surprise occurred in class 4. Egypt’s Mohamed Sameh Eid Saleh, the top seed, had to settle for third place in his group behind Chinese Taipei’s Lin Wen-Hsin and Slovakia’s Boris Travnicek.

Thus for Mohamed Sameh Eid Saleh there was no place in the main draw; it was the same in class 9 for Japan’s Koyo Iwabuchi, he finished behind Great Britain’s Ashley Facey-Thompson and Russia’s Iurii Nozrunov.

Two top seeded players eliminated, for the other leading names who experienced defeat, the outcome was not so drastic. Second place in his initial phase group was the lot of Italy’s Federico Falco in class 1 behind Argentina’s Guillermo Bustamente, the same for Poland’s Maciej Nalepka in class 3; top spot finished in the hands of Italy’s Matteo Orsi.

Prominent names untroubled

Problems for notable names but not in the remaining men’s singles events.

Frenchman, Fabian Lamirault enjoyed a successful day in class 2, as did Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Ming-Chih in class 5 and the host nation’s Alvaro Valera in class 6.

Likewise, it was a day without defeat for Egypt’s Sayed Youssef in class 7, a situation that applied to Germanys Thomas Bouvais in class 8 and to José Manuel Ruiz in class 10, like Alvaro Valera from Spain.
Meanwhile, not to be outdone, in class 11, Belgium’s Florian van Acker ended the day without defeat.

The individual events conclude on Friday 6th March.

• 2020 ITTF Costa Brava Para Open: Group stage, main draw and latest results