Three British athletes still fighting for Paralympic qualification in Thailand
Chris Ryan (men’s class 2), Jack Hunter-Spivey (men’s class 5) and Megan Shackleton (women’s class 4) are all still in contention for a place in the Paralympic tournament in Paris going into the final day of the Paralympic World Qualification Tournament in Pattaya, Thailand. But there was disappointment for Tom Matthews (men’s class 1) and Ross Wilson (men’s class 9) who lost in the quarterfinals while Theo Bishop (men’s class 7) and Grace Williams (women’s class 8) went out at the group stage of their respective events and their hopes of competing in Paris now rest on receiving a wild card.
Men’s class 2
Chris Ryan beat World number 14 Guilherme Marcio Da Costa in five sets in the Brazilian Open in February and their group 3 match went the distance again. Ryan led 10-6 in the first set only to lose it 12-10 but he put that behind him to take the next two 11-6 11-9 before the Para PanAmerican silver medallist from Brazil came back to level at 2-2 and secured the deciding set 11-5 for a 3-2 win.
Ryan started well against Peter Isherwood taking the first set 11-5 but the Canadian took the next two and looked to be in command until Ryan took the fourth 11-4 to level the match and went on to take the deciding set 11-6. That took him through to the quarterfinals where he came through another five-set battle against Masanori Uno, taking the deciding set 11-4 after the World number 21 from Japan had twice levelled the match.
He will play World number 12 Thirayu Chueawong from Thailand in the semi-final tomorrow.
Men’s class 5
Jack Hunter-Spivey had lost his last two matches against Sem Roelofs in Spain and Poland earlier this season and he came through a tense fourth set 19-17 to beat the 26-year-old World number 20 from the Netherlands 3-1 with his eighth match point. He never recovered from a slow start against the improving Isak Nyholm and after edging a tight second set 12-10 to lead 2-0 the 20-year-old World number 17 from Sweden went on to take the third 11-8 and complete a 3-0 win.
Hunter-Spivey progressed from the group as runner-up after Nyholm won a five-set battle against Roelofs and he showed his resilience with a much better performance to beat the in-form Norakan Chanpahaka from Thailand in the quarterfinals 3-1. He will play World bronze medallist Lucas Carvalhal Arabian from Brazil in the semi-finals tomorrow.
Women’s class 4
Megan Shackleton lost only 10 points in a 3-0 win against the Al-Watani Para Open and Kazakhstan Para Open bronze medallist Alexandra Stepanova from Kazakhstan and then showed all her battling qualities against the veteran Lu Pi-chun, twice levelling the match before losing the deciding set to the World number 13 from Chinese Taipei 11-7.
Shackleton progressed from the group as runner-up after Lu beat Stepanova and will play 18-year-old Ena Miyazaki from Japan in the quarterfinals tomorrow.
Men’s class 1
Tom Matthews was impressive in beating Antreas Aravis, the Al-Watani Para Open gold medallist from Cyprus 3-0 but then lost out in a great battle with Silvio Keller, the former European bronze medallist from Switzerland. Matthews recovered from dropping the first set to lead 2-1 but Keller is such a tough competitor, and he came back to level at 2-2 and took the deciding set 11-7.
Matthews progressed from the group as runner-up and faced World bronze medallist Andrea Borgato in the quarterfinals. The pair have had some great battles in the past with Matthews winning their most recent encounter in Slovenia 3-1 but today it was the Italian who came out on top, taking the deciding set after Matthews had bravely fought back from 2-0 down to level at 2-2.
Men’s class 9
Ross Wilson recovered from a slow start to come back from 6-1 down and take the first set 11-9 against Jan Reinig from Germany. He was 10-7 down in the second and reeled off five consecutive points to take it 12-10 before completing a 3-0 win, 11-7 in the third. He started much better against Dinesh Pitiyage Don Silva and led 8-2 in the first set but the Al-Watani Para Open gold medallist from Sri Lanka levelled at 8-8 before taking the set 11-9. Wilson came back to take the second 11-9 but couldn’t find any consistency and Pitiyage Don Silva took the match 3-1.
Wilson, who was reclassified from class 8 into class 9 last September, progressed from the group as runner-up and a 3-0 win against Dezso Bereczki, the former European medallist from Hungary in the last 16 took him through to a quarterfinal against Liu Chaodong. The pair met in the Polish Open in March when Liu won in four sets and although Wilson played superbly to take the second set 11-3 after losing a tight first set 12-10 the Asian Para Games bronze medallist from China took the third 11-7 and secured a 3-1 win, 11-9 in the fourth.
Men’s class 7
The day after his 21st birthday Theo Bishop was unable to repeat his victory against Ben Despineux in Slovenia earlier this month and the Belgian used all his experience to secure a 3-0 win. Bishop produced a fighting performance to beat Suriyone Thapaeng, the World Ability Games silver medallist from Thailand 3-2 but with Thapaeng having earlier beaten Despineux 3-0 the group was decided on countback and Bishop was unlucky to miss out on a place in the knockout stages.
Women’s class 8
After losing the first set against Kanlaya Chaiwut-Kriabklang Grace Williams fought back to level at 1-1 but the Asian Para Games bronze medallist took the next two 11-8 11-9 for a 3-1 win. Williams started well against Elena Litvinenko taking the first set 11-8 but the former World number five, who is competing as an individual neutral athlete came back to take the match 3-1.