Bayley and McKibbin win gold again in Slovenia
Will Bayley and Aaron McKibbin followed up their singles gold medals last week by taking gold in the men’s class 7 and men’s class 8 singles respectively at the inaugural ITTF World Para Elite Lasko tournament in Slovenia today. Fliss Pickard (women’s class 6) and Joshua Stacey (men’s class 9) took silver and there were also bronze medals for Rob Davies (men’s class 1), Bly Twomey (women’s class 7) and Grace Williams (women’s class 8).
Men’s class 7
Will Bayley was a 3-0 winner against Christian Scheiber from Austria and then beat Yannick Paredis from Netherlands 3-0. He won his quarterfinal against 18-year-old Krizander Magnussen, the World number 10 from Norway 3-0 and then had to fight back from 1-0, 8-5 down against Michal Deigsler to win his semi-final 3-1, 12-10 in the fourth after the World number seven from Poland had points to level and take the match into a deciding set.
Bayley started slowly in the final and was 6-2 down in the first set to Katsuyoshi Yagi before coming back to win it 11-8. He took the second 11-7 to lead 2-0 and was 10-5 down in the third before fighting back to take it 14-12 and beat the World number three and Asian Para Games champion from Japan 3-0.
“It’s been a long few days and I am feeling quite tired now,” said Bayley, “so I’m really proud of myself that I stuck in there and I never gave up. That’s what I do better than anyone else in the world and that’s why I’m still around and still at the top because I don’t give up. A lot of people would have lost that (semi-final) match 3-0 but I came through that and then showed it again in the final. Yagi was playing unbelievably and should have won that third set, but I thought ‘I’ll just do what I do and stick in there and put a bit of pressure on him’. I think I had to win it 3-0 because if he had won that set it would have been difficult so I’m really happy.
“It is hard because people have nothing to lose against me and they just want to beat me – it’s like a free hit for them. I’m really lucky because I naturally just have that motivation to want to win. I’m really motivated and training hard and I still want it just as much as ever and I’ll keep going as long as I can.”
Theo Bishop lost 3-1 to Michal Deigsler and led 10-5 in the first set against Pavao Jozic, the former European silver medallist from Croatia before losing it 12-10. He was 6-1 down in the second but came back to win it 11-9, took the third set 12-10 and secured a 3-1 win on his third match point, 12-10 in the fourth. Bishop won his last 16 match against Yannick Paredis 3-0 and then lost in three close sets to Katsuyoshi Yagi.
Men’s class 8
Aaron McKibbin won his first match 3-1 against World number 12 Borna Zohil from Croatia, winner of the Paralympic World Qualification Tournament last year and progressed to the quarterfinals with a 3-1 win against Alejandro Diaz, the World number 18 from Spain. He shared the first two sets with World number three Clement Berthier, the European doubles champion from France and then edged a tight third 13-11 before completing a 3-1 win, 11-7 in the fourth.
McKibbin lost a close first set against Emil Andersson 13-11 but fought back to beat the World number seven and former World and Paralympic medallist from Sweden 3-1, 14-12 in the fourth. That set up a repeat of the final in last week’s Challenger tournament against Maksym Nikolenko, the World number four and Paralympic bronze medallist from Ukraine that McKibbin won 3-2. At 2-1, 10-9 he had match point after a stunning rally that ended when Nikolenko went long with his forehand. McKibbin netted with his return and Nikolenko took the set 12-10 to level at 2-2 but McKibbin was always in control in the deciding set and took it 11-4 for another 3-2 win.
“At the end of the fourth set I think I just drew on my experience,” he said. “It is always tight when I play him - against some players you get to the point when you think you’ve won the match, but I never feel like that with him as I always know he will keep going. I’ve had zero energy in my body today and I had to mentally battle, and I think that is the only reason in the fifth set I still felt good because I tried to keep mellow the whole way through. My aim was to stick in every single point and try and grind him down and not try to hit flashy shots and out-rally him.
“I got a good start in the fifth and I think I just relaxed a bit. I mixed up my serves and Rushy (BPTT head coach Andrew Rushton) was really good at helping me try to change things through the game. I think that’s what I’ve done best this whole week - in every match when it has got tricky, I’ve changed things a lot which is definitely a positive going forward.”
Billy Shilton started with a 3-1 win against the former World number one Marc Ledoux from Belgium and then came back from 2-1 down to beat World number five Piotr Grudzien, the Paralympic doubles champion and two-time former Paralympic singles medallist from Poland 12-10 in the fifth set. He lost 3-0 to Maksym Nikolenko last week and it was a lot closer this time with Shilton taking the first set in their quarterfinal before the Ukrainian came back to win 3-1.
Men’s class 9
Joshua Stacey was a 3-0 winner against 17-year-old Ian Kim from Australia and then recovered from a slow start against Juan Bautista Perez to beat the World number 10 and former World and European medallist from Spain 3-1. He was a 3-0 winner in the quarterfinal against Wong Chi Yin, the Asian Para Games bronze medallist from Hong Kong China and progressed to the final after a 3-0 semi-final win against the American Tahl Leibovitz, the former Paralympic champion and eight-time Para PanAmerican champion.
In the final he faced 20-year-old Ander Cepas who had won their most recent meeting in Poland in March 3-0. The World number four and Paralympic bronze medallist from Spain again led 2-0 and although Stacey had his chances in the third set Cepas edged it 12-10 to win 3-0.
“I think there were a lot of half-long opportunities that I should have taken and I didn’t,” said a disappointed Stacey. “I pushed and that gave him the chance to hit a winner or a very positive ball into the open places and I think he executed that well. There were times in the match when it was tight, and I was starting to get into a little bit of a rhythm but my receive wasn’t good enough today so I’m disappointed. I can take some positives from the last two weeks but there are definitely things I need to work on for the next time I play in a men’s class 9 singles tournament.”
Women’s class 6
Fliss Pickard recovered from losing the first set to beat Gabriela Constantin, the World number 10 and European bronze medallist from Romania 3-1 and received a bye into the semi-finals as group winner after a 3-0 win against World number eight Morgen Caillaud, the World and European doubles bronze medallist from France. She took the first set against World number six Katarzyna Marszal but the World and European silver medallist from Poland levelled at 1-1 before Pickard secured her place in the final with a 3-1 win.
She had lost her previous match in Poland to Paralympic champion Nailah Al Dayyeni 3-0 but it was much closer today with Pickard taking the first set 11-8 and pushing the World number two from Iraq in the next three high quality sets despite a 3-1 loss.
“I think today I played well,” she said. “Sometimes the scores don’t reflect the quality of the match and there were some excellent rallies and points that could have gone either way. I feel that I pushed myself out of my comfort zone which is what I really wanted to do today. The last three weeks have been incredible; it’s been a learning experience for me and playing against the class 7s last week was amazing and gave me a confidence boost going into this week. I’m in a good place mentally and I’m ready to get back into the training hall after this tournament and there are a lot of positives to take from here.”
Men’s class 1
Rob Davies began with a comfortable 3-0 win against Antreas Aravis from Cyprus and then saved set points in the second set before beating World number 11 Timo Natunen from Finland 3-0. He secured his place in the quarterfinals as group winner with a 3-0 win against Jesus Daniel Tirado Guarapano from Venezuela and progressed to the semi-finals with a 3-0 win against old rival Andrea Borgato, the World bronze medallist from Italy. He led 1-0 against World number two Kim Hyeon Uk but the Tokyo Paralympic silver medallist came back to lead 2-1 and edged a tight fourth set 12-10 to win 3-1.
“It was really tight,” said Davies. “In the first end I was in charge and that put me in good stead but then I think I lost my focus a bit. I’m disappointed but when I take a bit of time I’ll be really happy as well. I’ve had some good performances over the last two weeks although I didn’t perform in the final last week but I’m sort of happy with the performance in the semi-final today - just a few loose balls that I didn’t get right. I’ll just keep working. My main focus this year is the Europeans, and I wanted to put a marker down and I think I’ve done that here. The guys know I’m back to my level - or getting there - so it’s exciting times for me really.”
Tom Matthews led World number four Federico Falco 2-0 and had five match points in the third before the Paralympic bronze medallist from Italy edged the set 15-13 and then levelled at 2-2. Matthews regrouped and took the deciding set 11-8 for a 3-2 win. He fought back from 2-0 down against Jeong Sang Gu to take the third 11-6 and had chances to level at 2-2 but the Korean edged the fourth 13-11 for a 3-1 win.
Matthews progressed to the quarterfinals as group runner-up and after splitting deuce sets with Kim Hyeon Uk he lost 3-1, 12-10 in the fourth.
Women’s class 7
Bly Twomey was a 3-0 winner against Wong Yue Ching, last year’s French Para Open gold medallist from Hong Kong China and then produced a brilliant performance to beat the World number two Kubra Korkut from Turkey 3-1. Twomey topped her group after a 3-1 win against World number 10 Nora Korneliussen, the European bronze medallist from Norway and received a bye into the semi-finals where she took on the World number six Chiu Kan Shan from Hong Kong China. Twomey had won their only previous meeting in three sets and after losing a tight first set 12-10 she took the second 11-5 to level at 1-1. However, the Asian Para Games silver medallist used her greater experience to good effect and although Twomey kept fighting Chiu took the third set 11-7 and the fourth 12-10 for a 3-1 win.
“I think if I had edged that first set it would have given me the confidence to go on and play my game,” said Twomey, “but losing it put some doubt in my mind, and I didn’t play my best table tennis. I can take a lot from this match because it’s a different style of play. Not many class 7s play waiting for you to open up and block the ball so it’s a good style to play and I’ll go back to Brighton and work on that style, keep playing and come back stronger.”
Women’s class 8
Grace Williams levelled at 1-1 against World number two Aida Dahlen from Norway and made the European champion and Paralympic silver medallist fight for her 3-1 win. She was a 3-1 winner against 18-year-old Karin Pracek from Slovenia and then played superbly to beat World number three Thu Kamkasomphou, the World champion and former two-time Paralympic champion from France 3-1.
That sent her through to the quarterfinals and after losing the first set to Frederique Van Hoof, Williams fought back to beat the World number eight and World bronze medallist from Netherlands 3-1. She started well in her semi-final against World number seven Yuri Tomono taking the first set 11-6 but the Asian Para Games silver medallist from Japan came back to win 3-1.
“After the first set she changed what she was doing,” said Williams, “and I was trying to still do what I was doing, and I wasn’t getting the balls back that I wanted to get back and that made me frustrated. I’m gutted and disappointed but I’m also happy that I got to the semi-finals of an Elite tournament. Last week getting a bronze medal was amazing but this tournament – yes, it is another bronze medal - but I feel it is a better bronze medal because I’ve beaten better players. I’ve shown that I’m with the top players - I’m there, I just need to work a bit harder to stay there.”
Women’s class 4-5
Megan Shackleton was a 3-0 winner against Yoleidy Johana Fernandez Andrade, the class 4 former two-time Para PanAmerican medallist from Venezuela and then secured a 3-1 win against Faten Elelimat, the class 4 World number 15 from Jordan 13-11 in the fourth. She never really got into the match in her quarterfinal against Alexandra Saint-Pierre and the class 5 World champion from France was a 3-0 winner.
Men’s class 4-5
Jack Hunter-Spivey fought hard but could not find the same form that saw him win gold last week and after losing 3-0 to Kim Young-Gun, the class 4 World number two and Paralympic champion from the Republic of Korea he did not progress after a 3-1 loss to David Olsson, the class 5 World number 11 from Sweden, who was gold medallist in the French Para Open and Czech Para Open last year.
Men’s class 6
Paul Karabardak fought back bravely from 2-0, 8-4 down to level at 2-2 against World number five Bobi Simion but the former European silver medallist from Romania ran away with the deciding set to win 3-2. Karabardak booked his place in the quarterfinals with a 3-1 win against 18-year-old Luka Vidovic from Serbia and went out after a 3-0 loss to World number two Peter Rosenmeier, the former two-time World and Paralympic champion from Denmark.
Martin Perry looked to be in control at 2-0 against 16-year-old Samuel Altshuler from USA but the silver medallist in last year’s Brazilian Open came back to level at 2-2 and took the deciding set 11-6. Perry was a 3-1 winner against World number 10 Esteban Herrault, the European doubles champion from France and progressed as group winner after a 3-0 win against 20-year-old Aaro Makela from Finland. He also went out in the quarterfinal after a 3-0 loss to Piotr Manturz, the World Abilitysport Youth Games champion and last year’s French Para Open champion from Poland.
The tournament continues with the doubles events.