Doubles gold for Ryan in France
Following his silver in the men’s class 1-2 singles at the 2024 SQY French Para Open in Voisins les Bretonneux yesterday former GB wheelchair rugby captain Chris Ryan took gold in the men’s class 4 doubles today with Tomasz Jakimczuk from Poland, his second doubles title of the season after taking gold in Brazil in February. Brighton teenager Daniel Thomson won his first international medal when he took bronze in the mixed class 14 doubles with Aruzhan Giniyatova from Kazakhstan.
Men’s class 4
After taking gold and silver in the men’s class 1-2 singles Chris Ryan and Tomasz Jakimczuk, the World and European doubles bronze medallist from Poland, teamed up in the doubles and they progressed to the semi-finals as group winners after wins against Riito Shikai and Naoki Hosoya from Japan (3-1) and Alan Papirer and Francois Geuljans from France (3-1).
After taking a close first set in the semi-final against Jehan Madan and Shubham Wadhwa from India 11-9 they took the next two 11-7 11-1 to go through to the final and a rematch against Papirer and Geuljans. They started well and took the first set 11-6 and although the French pair came back to take the second 11-5 and level at 1-1 Ryan and Jakimczuk won the third 11-3 and secured the gold 11-8 in the fourth.
“I’m really happy to come away with gold in the doubles,” said 33-year-old Ryan from Welwyn Garden City. “It’s important having the pressure and practicing being in those situations. Playing with Tomasz was great. I learnt a lot from him during the competition and on the practice table and I think our games meshed really well. All-in-all a great tournament to finish off the season.”
Mixed class 14
Daniel Thomson and Aruzhan Giniyatova lost the first set against Gabriel Seguin from Canada and Aline Meneses Ferreira from Brazil but went on to win 3-1 and then again recovered from losing the first set to beat Nicklas Jensen and Freja Larsen from Denmark 3-1. They had to fight back from 2-1 down in their final group match against Henrik Brammer from Denmark and Prachi Pandey from India and after taking the fourth set 11-8 they edged the deciding set 13-11 to go through to the semi-finals.
From 2-0 down Thomson and Giniyatova fought back to take the third set 11-7 against Ricard Sabio Ruiz and Bhavikaben Kukadiya but the Spanish/Indian partnership were too strong in the fourth and took it 11-3 for a 3-1 win.
“I’m very happy with how I’ve played this week,” said Thomson. “My aim coming into this tournament was to stay calm and relaxed and implement what I’ve been working on in training. It means a lot to win my first medal for Great Britain. I’ve been putting in a lot of work over the summer and the past month in Sheffield and I’m over the moon that it has led to a bronze medal. It gives me even more motivation for training this winter. I’m still in the early stages of my development and the bronze is a small taste of what I’m striving for in the future. Finally, I’d like to thank my family and friends and everyone in the BPTT set-up for helping to get the best out of me on and off the table.”
Jacob Wicks and Aigul Nassikhatova from Kazakhstan lost 3-0 to Gonzalo Rodriguez and Pilar Gonzalez from Spain and went out after losing 3-1 to Sabio Ruiz and Kukadiya.
Men’s class 14
Daniel Thomson and Jacob Wicks lost their opening match to Eurico Andre Silva and Mario Joao Bastardo from Portugal 3-1 but kept themselves in contention for a place in the knockout stages with a 3-0 win against Sean Geoghegan from Ireland and Nicklas Jensen from Denmark. They did not progress after a 3-0 loss in their final match against Piotr Manturz and Marcin Zielinski from Poland.
Men’s class 18
Shae Thakker and Ryan Henry won their first match against Dominik Bartosik from Poland and Filip Prchlik from Czechia 3-1 and then beat Jonas Wand and Mohit Singh from Germany 3-1. They fought back well from 2-1 down against Julien Cigolotti and Tanguy Jezequel from France to level at 2-2 and take the deciding set 11-7 and progress to the quarterfinals as winners of group 4. They won the first set against Marlon Lopez and Ricard Sabio Ruiz and then levelled at 2-2 after the Spanish pair led 2-1 but lost the deciding set 11-7.
Max Flint and Theo Bishop were 3-0 winners against Lai Rong-hwa and Huang Ren Ting from Chinese Taipei and then came through a great battle against Patrick Vaughan from Ireland and Asad Hussain Syed from Canada. Leading 2-1 they had match points in the fourth before losing it 18-16 and then fought back from 8-4 down to win the deciding set 13-11. That took them through to the quarterfinals as winners of group 3 but they never really got going against Cigolotti and Jezequel and lost 3-0.
Jaiden Caldeira teamed up with Edgar Empis from France group 2 and they lost in three close sets to Juan Bautista Perez from Spain and Yehonatan Levi from Israel. Leading 2-0 they had match points in the third set against Rafal Kraft and Jan Dukalski but the Polish pair edged the set 12-10 and took the fourth 11-9 to level at 2-2 before Caldeira and Empis won the deciding set 11-8 to go through to the knockout stages. They started well in their last 16 match, taking the first set against Marat Surtubayev from Kazakhstan and Hadar Bahat from Israel and then fought back from 2-1 down to level at 2-2 before losing the deciding set 11-5.