Hunter-Spivey and Shackleton take European mixed doubles silver in Sweden
Jack Hunter-Spivey and Megan Shackleton came within a point of gold but had to be content with silver in the mixed doubles class 10 on the penultimate day of the ITTF European Para Table Tennis Championships in Helsingborg, Sweden.
Billy Shilton and Paul Karabardak secured bronze in the men’s doubles class 14 while Will Bayley and Theo Bishop progressed to tomorrow’s final. Bayley is also through to the final of the mixed doubles class 14 with Bly Twomey, who will also compete in the semi-finals of the women’s class 14 doubles with Fliss Pickard. Chris Ryan and Tom Matthews added bronze in men’s doubles class 4 to the bronze medals they won in their respective singles events.
Mixed class 10
Jack Hunter-Spivey and Megan Shackleton won their first round-robin match against Andre Soare and Kyra Liepach from Germany 3-1 and after losing a tight first set to Hamza Caliskan and Merve Ozsu from Turkey 10-12 they took the next two 11-7 and then came back from 5-1 down to edge the fourth 16-14 for a 3-1 win. They faced another Turkish pair Ali Ozturk and Irem Oluk in the final match to decide the gold and started well, coming back from 7-3 down to take the first set 11-7 and taking the second 11-9 to lead 2-0.
Hunter-Spivey and Shackleton moved to 9-7 in the third, but Ozturk and Oluk took the set 11-9 to reduce the deficit to 2-1 and saved a match point at 10-9 down before edging the fourth 13-11 to level at 2-2. With the momentum in their favour, they took control of the deciding set and although the British pair kept fighting and saved three match points, Ozturk and Oluk won it 11-5 to take the gold.
“Jack and I have probably come a long way in the last couple of weeks,” said Shackleton. “We’ve not had the best performances over the year, and we’ve been pretty disappointed so to get a silver medal at the European Championships, we have to be proud. To have match point is very frustrating and I’m sure we’d obviously want to come through that, but we’ve worked out a really good method here and seen positive progress and we’ll have to keep going and trust in it. Those matches are always going to be 50/50 with Ozturk and Oluk and it was just one of those days.”
“It was a 50/50 match between four good players,” said Hunter-Spivey, “and we played really well. We’ve not had the best of seasons doubles-wise so to come through and get a medal we’re really proud of the performance and the way we’ve conducted ourselves on the table has been great as well. Very disappointed not to take the match point but to be in the position to have a match point against one of the best teams in the world is a privilege and hopefully next time we’ll take it.”
Men’s class 4
Chris Ryan and Tom Matthews played a great match to beat Goran Perlic and Boris Stoiljkovic from Serbia 3-0 in their quarter-final and after a slow start fought back well against the very experienced Paralympic champions Jan Riapos and Peter Lovas, losing 13-11 in the third set to the World number one pair from Slovakia.
“I think we maybe came through the game this morning a bit more easily than we thought we would,” said Ryan, “but unfortunately, we weren’t at that level this afternoon. I had zero feeling in that match but when we play the way we do it is risk/reward and unfortunately, we were on the wrong end of it in that match. I’m learning so much - just being surrounded by multiple Paralympians on the table is invaluable to me. There are lots of things to be proud about and I’ve made good progress at this tournament.”
“We had a slow start against Slovakia, and I couldn’t get my feeling like I did this morning against Serbia,” said Matthews. “It’s a different variation playing against class 2 players so it’s a challenge for me but I’m enjoying it and loving playing alongside Chris. He’s had an amazing tournament so congratulations to him and hopefully this pairing can keep on moving forward. We’ve only played seven matches together and the Paralympic champions have probably played 700 together so it’s a big difference. The more we train together and the more we play together we’ll come back and hopefully come out on top. I’m really proud to get another major medal – it’s been an amazing tournament, and we’ll work towards Thailand next year and the World Championships.”
Men’s class 14
After a round of 16 bye Will Bayley and Theo Bishop faced Henrik Brammer and Peter Rosenmeier in their quarter-final. The European silver medallists from Denmark twice came back to level and then saved five match points at 10-5 down to level at 10-10 in a nerve-wracking deciding set that the GB pair eventually secured 20-18 with their eighth match point after the Danish pair had failed to take five of their own.
In the semi-final Bayley and Bishop faced another strong pair in former two-time men’s class 7 European champion Jean Paul Montanus and the newly crowned champion Yannick Paredis and after dropping the first set they produced a great performance to take the next three sets 11-9 11-7 11-6 and beat the Dutch pair 3-1.
“It’s been a crazy day,” said Bayley. “I actually think Theo and I can play a lot better than we did against Denmark. Peter Rosenmeier is one of the best players in class 6 if not the best, so we had to dig really deep and that’s what we do best – when things are against us that is when we are at our best and I think that is our strength. Theo has achieved so much here - he’s a good player and he’s a fighter so I’m not surprised and I don’t think he should be surprised. I’m proud of the way we fought when we were down - we showed that we were brave and we never gave up so bring on tomorrow.”
“I think I’m playing some good stuff at the moment,” said Bishop, “so I’m really pleased. Every so often there is a bit of a road bump, but we regroup and go again. I know that whatever has happened in the last point I back myself to make the next one like Will does and I think that is why we are so strong in these tight games because no matter what has happened before we’re still going to play our game come what may.”
World champions Billy Shilton and Paul Karabardak were 3-0 winners of their round of 16 match against Bobi Simion and Robert Boroleanu from Romania and then came through a five-set battle against Jonas Hansson and Sam Gustafsson. With the match level at 2-2 Shilton and Karabardak led 8-3 in the deciding set, but the Swedish pair fought back to 8-8 and saved a match point before the GB pair clinched the set 12-10 and the match 3-2.
They faced defending champions and Paralympic bronze medallists Clement Berthier and Esteban Herrault in their semi-final and never recovered from a slow start in a 3-0 defeat to the world ranked number two pair from France.
“I think we played really well in the morning in a really tough match against Sweden” said Shilton, “and I feel that we never really got going against France. It’s a difficult match-up – they’ve played together for a long time, and this was our first tournament together since Paris. It’s nice to come here and take another major medal with Paul and I think in a couple of days we’ll be happy with the result.”
“I think we played really well against Sweden,” said Karabardak. “They are one of the best teams so to beat them was an amazing feeling and I think we played the best doubles we’ve ever played together to win that match. So that was really pleasing and it’s good to be getting back to the form we showed before as we haven’t played together since Paris.”
Men’s class 18
Joshua Stacey and Aaron McKibbin were very unlucky to be drawn in the round of 16 against the Paralympic champions and defending European champions Patryk Chojnowski and Piotr Grudzien. The GB pair fought hard and took the first set 11-9 before the Polish pair came back strongly to take the match 3-1.
In their first major championship Shae Thakker and Ryan Henry were drawn against another strong Polish pair in Igor Misztal and Maksym Chudzicki. The young GB pair competed well in the first two sets, losing both 11-9 before Misztal and Chudzicki used their experience to race through the third set 11-2 for a 3-0 win.
“It’s been a very difficult competition,” said Henry, “a very high standard and a very different experience to other international competitions – a different kind of pressure. I feel there is a lot I can take positively from the experience. I don’t think I played too well but I can definitely take a lot of notes and things to take back to training. I think in the doubles we actually played quite well. We were up against a very strong pair and there were a few things we could have done better but, on the whole, we played pretty well.”
“It’s been an eye-opening experience,” said Thakker “playing in a major championship against world-class players. I felt that I tried my best and gave every point its own merit and I’m pleased with the way I dealt with the pressure even though I didn’t get the results I wanted. In the doubles we played against a very strong pair – we were a bit unfortunate in the first two sets, and I think we played some good stuff. I’m proud of what we’ve done and there are lots of things to take away and work on.”
Women’s class 14
Bly Twomey and Fliss Pickard won their first group match 3-0 against Cajsa Stadler and Smilla Sand from Sweden. They started well against Thu Kamkasomphou and Morgen Caillaud, taking the first set 11-3 but the French pair took the next two sets to lead 2-1 and then edged a tense fourth set 19-17 to take the match 3-1 with their sixth match point. With France beating Sweden in the final group match Twomey and Pickard progressed to the semi-final tomorrow where they will play World and Paralympic silver medallists Stephanie Grebe and Juliane Wolf from Germany.
Mixed class 14
As number one seeds Will Bayley and Bly Twomey had a round of 16 bye and came through a tricky quarter-final match against Marcin Zielinski and Barbara Jablonka from Poland 3-1. They progressed to tomorrow’s final with a 3-0 win against Peter Rosenmeier and Freja Larsen from Denmark.
“We know each other’s game inside out, so it is easy to play with Bly,” said Bayley, “because I know what she is going to do before she does it, so we read each other’s game quite well. It’s a pleasure to play with her and she’s improving every time. You don’t get that many chances to play in a major final, so it is exciting. I’ve never won a major medal with Bly so it will be a big achievement for us if we can manage to pull it off tomorrow.”
“Since the beginning I’ve always wanted to play with Will,” said Twomey, who trains with Bayley at Brighton Table Tennis Club. “He’s a great person to play with and I’m just really proud to play with the world number one. We’re in the final now so hopefully we can get a gold.”
Martin Perry and Grace Williams led Krizander Magnussen and Nora Korneliussen 2-1 in their round of 16 match, but the Norwegian pair edged a close fourth set 12-10 to level at 2-2 and took the deciding set 11-8.