Doubles gold for Williams in Slovenia
World doubles champion Grace Williams won gold in the women’s class 14-20 doubles with her Danish partner Thea Nielsen at the ITTF World Para Challenger Lasko in Slovenia today. Will Bayley and Theo Bishop took silver in men’s class 14 and there were bronze medals for Aaron McKibbin and Joshua Stacey in men’s class 18 and Megan Shackleton with her Israeli partner Caroline Tabib in women’s class 10.
Women’s class 14-20
Grace Williams and class nine World number 15 Thea Nielsen won 3-0 against Chiu Kan Shan and Wong Yue Ching from Hong Kong China and progressed to the knockout stages despite a 3-0 loss to Anja Handen and Smilla Sand from Sweden. They beat class 7 World number two Kubra Korkut and class 9 World number five Neslihan Kavas from Turkey 3-0 in their semi-final to set up a rematch in the final against Handen and Sand.
Williams and Nielsen lost the first set but responded well and having levelled at 1-1 they took the third set 11-9 and the fourth 11-9 for a 3-1 win.
“We realised when we were playing them in the final that we needed to look at what went wrong in the group match and what we could do to either make the score a little bit closer or even win,” said Williams, who won gold with Anja Handen in Poland earlier in the season. “So, we talked about tactics - what we did right and what we did wrong - and then we made a new tactic for the final. Doubles is nothing like singles and it is difficult playing with different people all the time, but I try really hard to get tactics from whoever I’m playing with so it’s about what I’m doing to help that person in that match.
“Winning another gold means so much - it means that what I’m doing in the hall is working and although it is doubles and it is with someone from another country it still feels great.”
Class 6 Fliss Pickard and class 7 Bly Twomey had a tough task in their group, but they led 1-0 and had chances at 10-8 in the third against class 8 Olaia Martinez and class 10 Maria Migueles before the Spanish pair edged it 12-10 and went on to win 3-1. They produced another fighting performance against Kubra Korkut and Neslihan Kavas, twice taking the lead and at 2-2 moving ahead 8-4 in the deciding set before the Turkish pair came back to take it 11-9. Pickard and Twomey had a walkover in their final group match against Pilar Gonzalez from Spain and Nora Korneliussen from Norway but did not progress to the knockout stages.
Men’s class 14
Will Bayley and Theo Bishop lost their opening match to Peter Rosenmeier from Denmark and Krizander Magnussen from Norway 3-0 but progressed from their group after a 3-0 win against Alejandro Lozano Gil and Ricard Sabio Ruiz from Spain.
At 2-0 they looked to be in control of their last 16 match against Aleksej Radukic and Luka Vidovic but the Serbian pair came back strongly to level at 2-2 before Bayley and Bishop secured a 3-2 win, 11-8 in the fifth. They fought back from 2-1 down to level at 2-2 against Ben Despineux from Belgium and Bjoern Schnake from Germany in their quarterfinal before taking the deciding set 11-8 and having led Katsuyoshi Yagi from Japan and Jonas Hansson from Sweden 2-1 they again took the deciding set 11-6 after Yagi and Hansson had levelled at 2-2.
That took them through to the final and they made a great start by taking the first set against Clement Berthier and Esteban Herrault but the experience of the European champions from France proved decisive and they took the match 3-1 and the gold.
“It’s amazing because we weren’t playing great throughout the whole day,” said Bayley, “and that is our strength - we never give up. We fought really hard in every single match and some of the pairs we beat are some of the best pairs in the world. To beat Yagi and Hansson was an unbelievable win for us and in the final we had chances to go 2-1 up so I think to finish second was a great achievement for us. We were just trying it out to see how we got on in the doubles and there wasn’t that much expectation or pressure and to get to the final was brilliant. We can take a lot of confidence from here into the next tournament and hopefully do just as well.”
“We’ve got to be proud,” said Bishop. “We’ve only played once together a long time ago and it’s not really representative of where we are now. Neither of us brought our best level and we just managed to graft through in the close moments. We’ve got to take the positives from the fact that we still managed to win matches. It’s a good feeling – in the singles especially I’ve had a lot of close matches that haven’t gone my way recently and it is good to know that I can graft through in those difficult moments. Sometimes you pressure yourself and having those really tight matches and pulling through is very positive moving on to the next tournament.”
Billy Shilton and Martin Perry were 3-0 winners against Gonzalo Rodriguez and Pablo Romero from Spain and progressed to the knockout stages as group winners after a 3-0 win against Paul Karabardak and his New Zealand partner Matthew Britz. They received a bye into the quarterfinals and led 1-0 and 2-1 against Peter Rosenmeier from Denmark and Krizander Magnussen from Norway but lost a tight fourth 12-10 and Rosenmeier and Magnussen took the deciding set 11-8.
Karabardak and Britz also progressed after a 3-0 win against Rodriguez and Romero and received a bye into the quarterfinals where they lost 3-0 to Katsuyoshi Yagi and Jonas Hansson.
Men’s class 18
Aaron McKibbin and Joshua Stacey won 3-0 against GB teammate Ryan Henry and class 10 Matteo Scuto from Luxembourg and were impressive in beating Borna Zohil and Pavao Jozic from Croatia 3-0. They received a bye into the semi-finals and started well against Lev Kats and Maksym Nikolenko but the Ukrainian pair came back to take the next two and lead 2-1. McKibbin and Stacey edged a tense fourth set 13-11 and led 4-1 in the deciding set but Kats and Nikolenko recovered to take it 11-6.
“I feel like we played the right way,” said McKibbin, “and both Josh and I made errors that we don’t usually make but can’t afford to make and I think that was the difference. There were too many quick mistakes before we had a chance to get into a rally and they were winning points from our errors. But fair play to them they played very smart and that’s something we need to work on because that is the bread and butter of the sport - being able to do the basics well. I was happy with the way we communicated and the way we carried on trying to play the whole way through and it was still very tight.”
“We just need to be a bit more robust really,” said Stacey, “and I think that is where they were a little bit better than us. They didn’t give us as many cheap points as we gave them. I’ll hold my hands up and say I think I made four errors I shouldn’t really make and maybe two of them should have been direct winners on my part. Overall, I’m disappointed right now but I’m sure we’ll come back better next week.”
Henry and Scuto did not progress after a 3-0 loss to Zohil and Jozic.
Women’s class 10
Megan Shackleton and Caroline Tabib from Israel came through a great battle against Nergiz Altintas and Irem Oluk from Turkey 11-7 in the fifth. They twice came back to level against Sandra Mikolaschek and Jana Spegel and had match point in the deciding set, but the German pair took it 12-10 for a 3-2 win.
Shackleton and Tabib progressed as runners-up and a 3-0 win against Edith Sigala Lopez and Martha Verdin from Mexico took them through to the semi-finals where they lost 3-1 to Andela Muzinic Vincetic and Helena Dretar Karic, the European champions from Croatia.
“I think it is a good start,” said Shackleton. “We’re playing the Elite tournament together next week and I feel we have progressed a bit more from Poland. We found a bit more rhythm and we’re working together well so I’m excited for next week. Helena and Andela are a really strong team and have won lots of medals at Paralympic Games so I think we can be proud of that performance. It is difficult because we don’t train together, and you do need that consistency, but we have practised together and played tournaments together a few times now so we’re getting more familiar. I think the main thing is good communication; I know how Caroline needs to play in order to feel confident, so it is about giving her the tools to be able to do that and obviously play well myself.”
Men’s class 4
Chris Ryan and Tom Matthews faced Peter Lovas and Jan Riapos in their first match and they had chances to win the first set before the Paralympic champions from Slovakia edged it 13-11 and went on to win 3-0. Ryan and Matthews also had chances to win the second set against Alan Papirer and Francois Geuljans but lost it 13-11 and they saved five match points before the French pair secured the third set 11-9 for a 3-0 win.
The tournament concludes tomorrow with the mixed doubles events.