Teenager Thomson takes silver in Finland
Brighton teenager Dan Thomson reached his first international final when taking silver in the men’s class 6 singles in the ITTF World Para Future Lahti at the Pajulahti Olympic Training Center in Finland today. There was further success for young British athletes as Welsh teenager Jacob Wicks took bronze in men’s class 6 - his first international medal – and 20-year-old Jaiden Caldeira recorded his first international win in his second tournament.
Men’s class 6
Dan Thomson was a comfortable 3-0 winner against debutant Andres Leet from Estonia and was then beaten 3-0 by World number 12 Michael Azulay from Sweden, gold medallist here in 2023. He dropped the first set to 16-year-old Gabriel Diez Alvarez from Spain but came back to win 3-1 and secure his place in the semi-finals as group 1 runner-up.
Jacob Wicks beat fellow teenager Samuel Altshuler from USA, silver medallist in Brazil last year, 3-1 and then fought back from 2-0 down to beat Aaro Makela from Finland 3-2, 11-7 in the fifth having edged both third and fourth sets 12-10 to level. He finished top of group 2 after beating Pablo Romero from Spain 3-1 and set up an all-GB semi-final against Thomson.
Thomson took the first two sets 11-8 11-4 and secured a 3-0 win, 12-10 in the third. That earned him a place in the final and a rematch with Azulay. Once again the Swedish player had too much experience and although Thomson competed well after a slow start and won his share of rallies, he lost 3-0 to the former European team medallist.
It was a first singles medal for the 19-year-old, who is based in Sheffield where he combines training with the British squad and studying quantity surveying at Sheffield Hallam University.
“It was good experience playing my first final,” said Thomson. “I didn’t treat the match any differently to the other matches in the tournament, but I felt that I played a lot better than in the group match. I could have been more consistent in the rallies and with my shot selection but overall, I’m really happy with my performance. It means a lot to win my first singles medal and to get silver was obviously very nice. I’m working hard in the (training) hall and it’s nice to see a small reward for that. I feel I’m making small improvements all the time and every tournament I seem to be playing a bit better and smarter - just little things here and there - so I’m very happy to get my first singles medal.”
“It’s an honour to win my first international medal,” said Wicks, who is also at Sheffield Hallam University studying professional policing. “I’ve been training hard and playing tournaments to get more experience so it’s nice to see the hard work is paying off. I’m very pleased that I won all my group matches – I played some tough opposition and had to play well to win. It was hard to play Dan in the semi-final as you always want your teammates to do as well as you, so it was a difficult situation to play in. I definitely feel that I’m improving with each tournament. I played this tournament in 2023 and went out in the group stage so it’s nice to see I’m improving by making it to the semi-finals.”
Men’s class 3
Romain Simon lost his first match to the Frenchman Francois Geuljans, gold medallist here in 2022, 3-0 but kept himself in contention with a 3-0 against Tsuyoshi Watanabe from Japan, bronze medallist here in 2022. A 3-1 loss to Martin Lukas from Czechia left him in third place in the group and he did not progress to the knockout stages.
Men’s class 7
Bailey Page started with a 3-1 win against the very experienced Daniel Horut, the three-time European bronze medallist from Czechia but did not progress after losing 3-0 to Gonzalo Rodriguez from Spain and 3-0 to World number 17 Sam Gustafsson from Sweden.
Men’s class 8
Jaiden Caldeira had a tough first match against World number seven Emil Andersson and the former European champion and World and Paralympic medallist from Sweden was a 3-0 winner. Caldeira progressed to the last 16 with a 3-0 win against 17-year-old Cole Rothenberger from USA and after losing a tight first set to Hamza Taleb 14-12 he was beaten 3-0 by the World number 26 from Belgium.
The tournament continues with the doubles events that conclude tomorrow.