Simon rewarded with doubles bronze in Spain
Pathway athlete Romain Simon combined with Austrian Henrik Andersson to take bronze in the men’s class 8 doubles at the ITTF World Para Future Costa Brava in Platja d’Aro today and there were more promising British performances from largely inexperienced doubles partnerships against strong competition.
Men’s class 8 RR
Romain Simon and Henrik Andersson from Austria led 2-0 and had match points in the fourth set before securing a 3-2 win against Yerlan Kaziyev and Kenges Koniyev from Kazakhstan, 11-8 in the fifth. They lost 3-0 to class 4 former World number one Emeric Martin and Florian Merrien from France and 3-0 to the second French pair of Noel Sylvain and class 4 European bronze medallist Alexandre Delarque but secured bronze in their final match against Sumit Sehgal and Rameshbhai Chaudhary from India, taking the third set 12-10 to lead 2-1 and clinching a 3-1 win, 14-12 in the fourth.
“Overall, I’ve had some highs and lows at this tournament and in Italy last week,” said Simon. “I struggled at first to adapt and try and implement my game so I’ve tried to take the positives from some of my performances in Italy and how I could improve. With the help from the coaches I focused on my mindset and my performances started to improve and my confidence and belief in the things that I can do started to come out. I still feel there is a lot more that I need to show and more levels that I need to get to but I’m happy with my ability to battle through and if I’ve had a hard match to reset and go on to the next match with a positive mindset. Some of the advice I got from the coaches was amazing in helping me to reset for the next match.
“To come through the last match in the fourth set was good. It Italy we lost in a five-setter which went down to the wire and it was great to have back-to-back tournaments to learn from that experience. I’m happy with that performance but I still feel I can do better and I’ll be striving every tournament to build on that and do better.”
Men’s class 14
Dan Thomson and Jacob Wicks lost their first match to Tong Chi Ming and Tong Chi Yung from Hong Kong China 3-0. They kept themselves in contention with a 3-1 win against Yaser Hussaini and Lennard Properjohn from Australia but finished third in the group and did not progress after a 3-0 loss to Piotr Manturz and Marcin Zielinski from Poland.
Men’s class 18
Shae Thakker and Ryan Henry put up a great performance in their first match against top seeds Mateo Boheas and Thomas Bouvais, taking the first set and then fighting back to level at 2-2 before the World doubles bronze medallists from France took the match 3-2, 11-6 in the fifth. Thakker and Henry secured their place in the knockout stages with a 3-0 win against Marat Surtubayev and Ali Makhulbekov from Kazakhstan and started well in their last 16 match, taking the first set against Pawel Wlodyka and Michal Deigsler but the Polish pair came back to win 3-1.
Max Flint and Theo Bishop fought back from 2-0 down to beat Ian Kim and Lucas Milsom from Australia 3-2, 11-5 in the fifth and finished top of group 5 after beating Sanjeev Hammannavar and Nithish Yoganand Suresh from India 3-1. They also went out in the last 16 after a 3-0 loss to Gabriel De Oliveira Antunes and Jean Carlos De Souza Mashki, the Para PanAmerican champions from Brazil.
Women’s class 14-20
Grace Williams and Fliss Pickard never found their rhythm in a 3-0 loss to Ewa Barbara Foskett and Katarzyna Marszal from Poland but secured their place in the knockout stages with a 3-0 win against Aruzhan Giniyatova and Raushan Orynbayeva from Kazakhstan. After losing a tight first set to Morgen Caillaud and Lucie Hautiere 12-10 Williams and Pickard took the next two 11-5 11-5 to lead 2-1 but the French pair levelled at 2-2 and took the deciding set 11-7.
Mixed class 7-10
Romain Simon and Ghaliah Alanazi from Saudi Arabia lost 3-1 to Louis Flores and Tamara Leonelli from Chile. A 3-0 win against Oliver Pizzey Stratforcontention,tralia and Ariadna Ardevol from Spain kept them in contention, but they went out after a 3-0 loss to Rameshbhai Chaudhary and Sonalben Patel from India.
Mixed class 14
Ryan Henry and Fliss Pickard lost 3-1 to Krizander Magnussen and Nora Korneliussen from Norway and did not progress after a 3-1 loss to Marcin Zielinski and Barbara Jablonka from Poland.
Mixed class 20 RR
Shae Thakker and Grace Williams lost 3-1 to Marat Surtubayev and Altynay Yerzhankyzy from Kazakhstan and 3-1 to Brady Zi Rong Chin and Gloria Wong Sze from Malaysia. They beat Paul Van Der Oord and Anniek Van D Holt from Netherlands 3-0 but finished out of the medals after losing their final match against Pawel Wlodyka and Ewa Barbara Foskett from Poland 3-0.