Two singles medals for British squad in Spain
Fliss Pickard and Grace Williams took bronze in the women’s class 6 and women’s class 8 singles respectively at the ITTF World Para Future Costa Brava tournament in Platja d’Aro today. There were also some good wins and promising performances from a largely inexperienced squad, with six other British athletes progressing from their groups to the knockout stages.
Women’s class 6
Fliss Pickard was a comfortable 3-0 winner against World number 21 Bhavikaben Kukadiya from India and then recovered from dropping a tight third set 13-11 to beat World number 13 Barbara Jablonka, gold medallist in the World Abilitysport Youth Games last year, 3-1. Pickard had never lost to Morgen Caillaud in eight previous meetings but could not find her best form today in their semi-final and the World number nine from France was a 3-0 winner.
“Morgan played very well today and credit to her,” said a disappointed Pickard. “This is probably my worst ever start to a season and I have lots to think about when I get back to the training hall.”
Women’s class 8
Grace Williams won 3-0 against the unranked Savita Vittal Ajjanakatti from India and then showed all her character to fight back from 2-1 down and beat World number 13 Lucie Hautiere, the European doubles bronze medallist from France 3-2 to progress to the semi-finals as group winner. She had to settle for bronze after a 3-0 loss to Olaia Martinez from Spain.
“I’ve had a good singles tournament overall,” said Williams, “with some good things in matches but there’s lots of things to work on going forward for the rest of the season.”
Men’s class 3
Romain Simon lost 3-1 to Francois Geuljans from France and then kept himself in contention with a 3-0 win against Kenges Koniyev from Kazakhstan. He progressed as group runner-up after a 3-1 win against Stephane Gil-Martins from Portugal but went out in the quarterfinal after losing in three close sets to Ibrahim Alhassan from Saudi Arabia.
Men’s class 6
Dan Thomson was a 3-0 winner against last year’s French Open silver medallist Rafal Kraft from Portugal and then fought back superbly from 2-0 down to beat Yaser Hussaini from Australia 3-2. He lost his final group match to Cristian Dettoni from Chile 3-0 but progressed from group 2 to the quarterfinals where he lost 3-0 to Piotr Manturz, last year’s French Open champion from Poland.
In group 3 Jacob Wicks began with a 3-0 win against Lennard Properjohn, the Oceania Para Championships bronze medallist from Australia, and followed up with a 3-0 win against Tokkozha Kadyrbek from Kazakhstan. He put up a great performance in defeat to Piotr Manturz, twice taking the lead before losing 11-9 in the fifth, and progressed to the quarterfinals where he was involved in another five-set battle against fellow teenager Samuel Altshuler from USA, silver medallist in Brazil last year, which he eventually lost 3-2 having led 2-1.
Men’s class 7
Theo Bishop was a 3-1 winner against Sanjeev Hammannavar from India and then came through a great battle against Yannick Paredis from Netherlands, edging a tight fourth set 13-11 to level at 2-2 and then taking the deciding set 11-8. He progressed to the quarterfinal with a 3-0 win against Pablo Romero from Spain and led World number seven Michal Deigsler from Poland 2-1 before being edged out 3-2, 11-9 in the fifth.
Men’s class 8
Ryan Henry was a 3-0 winner against Pramod Kumar from India and then lost in four close sets to Alejandro Diaz from Spain. He secured his place in the knockout stages with a hard-fought 3-2 win against Paul Van Der Oord from Netherlands, taking the deciding set 11-2 after the Dutchman had fought back from 2-0 down to level at 2-2. Henry faced another Dutchman Roy Van Der Burg in the last 16 and although he started well, taking the first set 11-9 Van Der Burg levelled and then took a close third 12-10 before securing a 3-1 win, 11-8 in the fourth.
Men’s class 10
Shae Thakker lost 3-1 to Pawel Wlodyka from Poland but progressed from group 3 as runner-up after a 3-0 win against Yann Yi Ming Gores from Netherlands and a 3-1 win against Hitesh Dolwani from India. He took a tight first set against Lorenzo Cordua 13-11 but the World number 18 from Italy came back to win 3-1.
Max Flint was drawn in a tough group and was beaten 3-0 by the French World number four and Paralympic bronze medallist Mateo Boheas and 3-0 by Lorenzo Cordua.
The tournament continues with the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles events.