Final day at European Para Table Tennis Championships see 15 pairs win doubles gold and Poland top medal standings

The final day of action at the ITTF European Para Table Tennis Championships in Sheffield saw 15 pairs win gold in the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles competitions.

It was a triumphant day for the Polish team which finished top of the medal standings and had three players who won in all three categories and remained unbeaten throughout the Championships, Karoline Pek, Natalia Partyka and Patryk Chojnowski.

In Thursday’s singles, Pek and Partyka won the women’s class 9 and 10 (respectively) while 2020 Paralympic champion, Chojnowski, triumphed in the men’s class 10.  In doubles, he teamed-up with Partyka to win the mixed class 20 and Piotr Grudzien to take the men’s class 18, coming from two sets down to beat the defending champions Lev Kats and Ivan Mai of Ukraine in a classic match at the start of the afternoon session.

Pek linked-up with Grudzien to win the class 17 mixed doubles before finishing the day in fine style, by winning the women’s doubles class 20 with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Neslihan Kavas and Merve Demir Turkey in the last session of the Championships.

After her three-medal triumph, Pek said: “It’s amazing to win three gold medals.  In the singles event I won my first gold medal so I am very happy.  To win two more without losing a single set, I think, is really amazing. I am really proud of myself, of my work, and I am hungry for more.

“I think I am more mature now. I am 25 and I have lost three singles finals before so luckily this time I won. I have family here in England, so maybe that is why - I should come here more often to play matches.

On the medal table-topping performance of the Polish team at the European Championships in Sheffield, she explained: “We have very good players in all classes. We have very good conditions to train in Poland.  We have great coaches, great staff.  We really want to win our matches, so maybe that is why.”

Speaking next to her doubles partner after their gold medal victory, Partyka added: ““Not bad! Pretty good!  It was our goal to win three golds and I am happy that we achieved that.  It’s the first time I have won all three events as previously we played singles and team event so it was only possible to win two golds. 

“I think I have played well enough this week. In the singles event my most difficult match was the final.  We know each other very well and she was leading me but then I found my way to play better and I am happy with my performance.  I am thinking about the Paralympics already but I just want to play without pressure.   It’s been a long week and we are tired, but happy.”

Other standout performers in six-days of world class action at Sheffield’s English Institute of Sport included Thomas Schmidberger and Valetin Baus.  The German duo won their categories in singles before teaming up for the doubles where they made short work of France’s Maxine Thomas and Emerik Martin in today’s men’s class 8 final with a comfortable 3-0 victory.

Schmidberger said: “This is a good week. (To be singles and doubles champion) was the goal and when you set goals and you reach them it always feels very good.  Going through a tournament unbeaten does not happen so often. 

“We had some trouble when we started playing doubles in international tournaments but we worked hard and worked on our mistakes and I think we are on a good way for Paris next year.”

Baus said: “It’s a good feeling to win singles and doubles.  We played some good matches and we are very happy to win our first doubles titles.  We are looking forward to Paris.  The main goal this week was to play good and win the title.  Every title is a nice thing and I am very happy about it.”

Others who won titles in singles and doubles included: Andela Muzinic Vincetic of Croatia (Singles 3 and Mixed 5-10), Italy’s Giada Rossi (Singles class 2 and mixed doubles class 4) and Ukrainian teammates, Viktor Didukh (Single class 8 and mixed doubles class 14) and Maryna Lytovchenko (Singles class 6 and mixed doubles class 14).

Giada Rossi said: “I am very happy and proud of what we have done.  We played well because we win.  We are a good team.  This is a good venue to play in, so we had a good feeling.

“Last year me and Federico won silver in world champs and I won gold in singles, so it was important to come here and win this championship because we are the best European double.”

All of the results from the ITTF European Para Table Tennis Championships 2023 can be viewed at 

https://www.ittf.com/tournament/5484/ITTF-European-Championships-2023/

The full list of doubles winners is:

The European Para Table Tennis Championships is an ITTF event which is supported by funding from the National Lottery and Sheffield City Council and will be delivered in association with a range of partners including UK Sport, British Para Table Tennis and Table Tennis England (TTE). Event suppliers include: Butterfly, Neon Flooring, 729-Table Tennis Balls and the Crowne Plaza Hotel Sheffield.