Germany defeated Sweden 2:0 playing in the quarter-final of the Men`s Team Class 3   The 2012 London Paralympics runner-up of the Men`s Team Class 3 Germany`s Thomas BRUCHLE and Thomas SCHMIDBERGER defeated Sweden`s Victor SJOQVIST and Alexander OEHGREN 2:0 to set semi-final duel with host team of Brazil at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. Other semi-finalists in that class are defending champion China and Thailand who beat Ukraine and Poland respectively.   Men`s Team Classes 1-2 Both European sides were beaten in the today`s quarter-final matches. Great Britain`s Rob and Paul Davies lost to host national team composed by Guilherme DA COSTA and Iranildo ESPINDOLA while Italian`s Giuseppe VELLA and Andrea BORGATO suffered at the hands of national team of Korea. Semi-final pairs are: France – Brazil Slovakia – Korea.   Men`s Team Classes 4-5 Germany`s Valentin BAUS and Jan GURTLER beat Serbia`s Goran PERLIC and Mitar PALIKUCA 2:0 in the Round 1. Spain lost to Egypt 2:1 as well as Poland to Nigeria. Quarter-final pairs are: Korea – Germany Egypt – China France – Taipei Nigeria – Turkey.   Men`s Team Classes 6-8 Seven out of eight quarter-finalists are coming from Europe. The 2012 London`s runner-up Spain managed to overcome host nation 2:1 in the Round 1 while all other matches were finished 2:0: Germany vs. Denmark Great Britain vs. Belgium Slovakia vs. Chile and Hungary vs. France. Quarter-final pairs are: Ukraine – Germany Spain – Great Britain Sweden – Slovakia Hungary – China.   Men`s Team Classes 9-10 Great Britain`s Kim DAYBELL and Aschley Facey THOMPSON had no chance against strong team of China at the quarter-final encounter. Reigning champion won 2:0 with both matches ended in straight games. French team (Mateo BOHEAS Cedrik CABESTANI) overcame host side (Carlos CARBINATTI Diego MOREIRA) to set semi-final duel with China. Poland`s Patryk COJNOWSKI and Netherlends` Gerben LAST met in the decisive clash between their national teams. COJNOWSKI brought victory to his side as he won in four games. The same story emerged in the match between Jorge CARDONA MARQUEZ (Spain) and Daniel HORUT (Czech Republic) as Spaniard booked semi-final place for his team.   Women`s Team Classes 1-3 Italy and Croatia progressed into the semi-final of Classes 1-3 as they defeated Great Britain 2:1 and Thailand 2:0 respectively. The winners will play in the semi-final against two finalists from the 2012 Paralympics: Italy vs. reigning champion China Croatia vs. runner-up of 2012 Korea.   Women`s Team Classes 4-5 Turkey set quarter-final clash with defending champion China beating Israel 2:0. The runner-up from 2012 London Paralympics Sweden will play against Mexico. Other quarter-final pairs are: Brazil – Korea Serbia – Taipei.   Women`s Team Classes 6-10 Croatia and France secured quarter-final berths as they both won 2:0 against Ukraine and Korea respectively. Croatian side will meet defending champion China in the next round and other pairs are: Turkey – Australia Brazil – Germany France – Poland.

Croatian player who reached second round of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games won all her games in the last two and half years   Sandra PAOVIC from Croatia again goes down in history becoming a Women`s Class 6 Paralympic champion after comfortable victory against Steffi GREBE from Germany – 3:0 (11:2 11:7 11:4). Eight years ago PAOVIC reached second round of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games but after traffic accident in 2009 she managed to recover during a long struggle and start her new career. She is now actual both World and European champion winning all her matches in last two and half years. Maryna LYTOVCHENKO defeated Antonina HODZYNSKA in all-Ukrainian bronze medal contest.   Men`s Class 1 Rob DAVIES from Great Britain is the new Men`s Class 1 winner as he beat Korean JOO Young Dae in four games. Hungarian Endre MAJOR lost to JOO`s compatriot Kiwon NAM in bronze medal contest.   Men`s Class 2 The 2012 London bronze medalist Fabien LAMIRAULT from France won gold medal in Class 2 beating in four games of the final clash Rafal CZUPER from Poland. Jiri SUCHANEK from Czech Republic who upset in the quarter-final his compatriot and defending champion Jan RIAPOS took bronze as he defeated Stephane MOLLIENS from France.   Men`s Class 8 Defending champion ZHAO Shuai from China reached second gold in a row defeating Hungarian Andras CSONKA in straight games. Poland`s Piotr GRUDZIEN won bronze as he overcame Chinese YE Chaoqun in five sets.   Men`s Class 10 Defending Paralympics` champion Patryk CHOJNOWSKI didn’t manage to keep the crown as he lost in the 48 minutes thriller against Chinese GE Yang who got a revenge for 2012 London final – 3:2 (5:11 11:8 8:11 11:8 16:14). Austrian Krisztian GARDOS prevailed against LIAN Hao from China to clinch bronze.   Men`s Class 11 Florian VAN ACKER from Belgium managed to recover as soon as he lost second and third set by a narrow margin (18:16 13:11) and finally took gold in the clash with Samuel VON EINEM from Australia. Hungarian Peter PALOS who won gold four years ago in London now took bronze after full five games clash with Korean KIM Gi-Tae.   Women`s Class 3 XUE Juan was better than LI Qian in all-Chinese final. The 2012 Paralympics champion Anna-Carin AHLQUIST from Sweden now finished her campaign by bronze medal as he beat Korean YOON Jiyu in straight games.   Women`s Class 5 ZHANG Bian and GU Gai repeated 2012 all-Chinese final showdown and again ZNAG won gold in a superb style – 3:0 (11:6 11:6 11:6). Ingela LUNDBAECK missed a chance to take new bronze after London Paralympics as he lost to JUNG Young-A in four games.   Women`s Class 7 Kelly VAN ZON from Netherlands successfully defended her gold from London as he overcame Kubra KORKUT from Turkey – 3:0 (11:9 11:9 11:5). KIM Seong-Ok from Korea prevailed against Canada`s Stephanie CHAN fighting for bronze madal.   Women`s Class 9 LIU Meng clinched her first Paralympic gold as he beat her compatriot LEI Lina in straight games but not easy bearing in mind that all three sets was ended by narrow margin. Poland`s Karolina PEK defeated host Danielle RAUEN in one of the most thrilling encounters of the day coming from 0:2 to 3:2.

The 16-year-old Belgian became the youngest ever Paralympic champion as he beat Netherlands` Gerben LAST in the final game of Men`s Class 9   Laurens DEVOS the 16-year-old Belgian goes down in history as the youngest ever Paralympic table tennis champion. Even more he needed just 18 minutes to secure gold in the Men`s Class 9 against Netherlands` Gerben LAST who did one step more after the 2012 London where he took bronze. Italian Mohamed KALEM got the third place on the podium as he defeated Juan PEREZ GONZALEZ from Spain.   Men`s Class 3 Chinese FENG Panfeng managed to defend his gold medal from 2012 London Paralympics as he beat German`s Thomas SCHMIDBERGER in four games. Florian MERRIEN from France defeated German Thomas BRUCHLE in very intense bronze medal contest which took five sets and 40 minutes.   Men`s Class 5 Chinese CAO Ningning clinched gold medal in a style defeating German Valentin BAUS in straight games but all three with a narrow margin. Bronze medal goes to Serbia as Mitar PALIKUCA overcame in four games the 2012 London Paralympic champion Tommy URHAUG from Norway.   Men`s Class 6 Peter ROSENMEIER from Denmark is the newly crowned Paralympic champion as he beat the 2012 runner-up Alvaro VALERA VARGAS from Spain. The winner was decided after full five sets. Bronze belonged to Thailand`s Rungroj THAINIYOM who prevailed against Korean PARK Hong-Kyu.   Men`s Class 7 The 2012 runner-up William John BAYLEY from Great Britain managed to win gold playing in front of noisy Brazilian audience at Riocentro – Pavilion 3 which supported host Israel PEREIRA STROH. Spaniard Jordi Morales GARCIA lost to Chinese YAN Shuo in the bronze medal clash.   Women`s Class 1-2 LIU Jing from China continues as Paralympic gold medalist beating Korean SEO Su-Yeon in four games. Giada ROSSI won bronze as she defeated Thailand`s Chilchitparyak BOOTWANSIRIN in straight games (first and third by narrow margin second 11:0).   Women`s Class 4 Two Serbian players celebrated in five-set matches of the Women`s Class 4. Borislava PERIC-RANKOVIC concluded in a style her confident performances taking gold in duel against ZHANG Miao. Chinese led 1:0 and 2:1 in sets but PERIC-RANKOVIC responded by two quick sets (11:3 11:6) to secure her best ever achievement (in London she was runner-up). Nada MATIC did even bigger upheaval coming from 0:2 to 3:2 in the bronze medal showdown against Sue GILROY from Great Britain.   Women`s Class 8 Same opponents – same winner in the Paralympic final as four years ago in London! MAO Jingdian from China beat Thu KAMKASOMPHOU from France in straight games to take second gold medal in a row. Germany`s Juliane WOLF lost to Philippines` Josephine MEDINA in bronze medal clash.  

Newly crowned champion of Women`s Class 11 comes from Ukraine. Turkish player Abdullah OZTURK recorded his best achievement so far in his career reaching final of Men`s Class 4   Natalia KOSMINA from Ukraine won gold medal in the Women`s Class 11 of the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games as she beat Poland`s Krystyna SIEMIENICKA. Both Natalia PARTYKA and Kelly VAN ZON will defend their titles in the final matches of their classes.   Men`s Class 1 Rob DAVIES from Great Britain and Korean JOO Young Dae will play for gold medal. DAVIES beat Hungarian Endre MAJOR in four games while JOO was better than his compatriot Kiwon NAM after five sets.   Men`s Class 2 Four Old Continent`s players reached the semi-final of the Men`s Class 2 Event. The 2012 bronze medalist Fabien LAMIRAULT from France eliminated Jiri SUCHANEK from Czech Republic who upset in the quarter-final his compatriot and defending champion Jan RIAPOS. LAMIRAULT won in four sets winning last one 11:1 after close fight in the third one which belonged to his opponent. Rafal CZUPER from Poland is the other finalist as he defeated Stephane MOLLIENS from France in four games.   Men`s Class 3 The 2012 Men`s Class 3 bronze medalist German`s Thomas SCHMIDBERGER secured now silver as he beat Florian MERRIEN from France after full five games. His rival in the gold medal clash will be the reigning champion Chinese FENG Panfeng who overcame SCHMIDBERGER`s compatriot Thomas BRUCHLE.   Men`s Class 4 Turkish player Abdullah OZTURK recorded his best achievement so far in his career reaching 2016 Paralympics final. He prevailed against Frenchman Maxime THOMAS in five games. There was a chance for the all-Turkish final but Chinese GUO Xingyuan prevented that beating Nesim TURAN in four sets.   Men`s Class 5 Chinese CAO Ningning got revenge in the semi-final as he beat Tommy URHAUG from Norway in the reprise of the 2012 gold medal contest. Other finalist is German Valentin BAUS who overcame Serbian Mitar PALIKUCA. Both CAO and BAUS won their matches in straight games.   Men`s Class 6 In this class Old Continent secured the gold medal bearing in mind that the 2012 runner-up Alvaro VALERA VARGAS from Spain faces Peter ROSENMEIER from Denmark. VALERA VARGAS was better than Thailand`s Rungroj THAINIYOM while ROSENMEIER overcame Korean PARK Hong-Kyu.   Men`s Class 7 The 2012 William BAYLEY from Great Britain will be faced with a big challenge in the final playing against host Israel PEREIRA STROH. Briton eliminated Spaniard Jordi Morales GARCIA in four games.   Men`s Class 8 Defending champion ZHAO Shuai booked his place in the new Paralympics final but this time challenger will be Hungarian Andras CSONKA who beat ZHAO`s compatriot YE Chaoqun in straight games but not easy: first set had 42 points in total.   Men`s Class 9 One more gold medal will go to Europe as Netherlands` Gerben LAST and Belgian Laurens DEVOS secured their places in the final showdown. The 2012 bronze medalist LAST defeated Italian KALEM while DEVOS beat Juan Bautista PEREZ GONZALEZ.   Men`s Class 10 Defending Paralympics` champion Patryk CHOJNOWSKI from Poland prevailed against Krisztian GARDOS in straight games of the semi-final to provide the final encounter against Chinese GE Yang. It will be a remake of the London`s 2012 final.   Men`s Class 11 Florian VAN ACKER from Belgium and Samuel VON EINEM from Australia will play for the gold. VAN ACKER beat reigning champion Peter PALOS in straight games.   Women`s Class 1-2 Giada ROSSI from Italy didn’t manage to reach the final. Korean SEO Su-Yeon beat her to set final showdown with reigning Class 1-2 champion LIU Jing from China.   Women`s Class 3 The winner of this class will be decided in the all-Chinese final XUE Juan – LI Qian. In the semi-final round XUE upset defending champion from 2012 London Paralympics Anna-Carin AHLQUIST.   Women`s Class 4 Borislava PERIC-RANKOVIC continues her impressive play winning second match in a row in straight games. First she upset reigning champion ZHOU Ying from China whilst today she overcame Sue GILROY from Great Britain. Her opponent in the final contest will be another Chinese representative ZHANG Miao who defeated PERIC-RANKOVIC`s compatriot Nada MATIC.   Women`s Class 5 ZHANG Bian and GU Gai will repeat 2012 all-Chinese final showdown as they defeated in the semi-finals Ingela LUNDBAECK from Sweden and JUNG Young-A from Korea. LUNDBAECK will play for her second bronze after London`s one.   Women`s Class 6 Sandra PAOVIC from Croatia and Steffi GREBE from Germany are the finalists of Class 6. Two Ukrainian players will meet to decide who will take the bronze Maryna LYTOVCHENKO and Antonina HODZYNSKA.   Women`s Class 7 Defending champion from 2012 London Kelly VAN ZON from Netherlands and Kubra KORKUT from Turkey secured their places in the final. VAN ZON was very confident against Stephanie CHAN from Canada winning in just 16 minutes whilst KORKUT was better than KIM Seong-Ok from Korea.   Women`s Class 8 Thu KAMKASOMPHOU from France and MAO Jingdian from China set their new final showdown at the Paralympic Games. For years ago MAO won gold. Germany`s Juliane WOLF is going to play against Josephine MEDINA for the bronze madal.   Women`s Class 9 LEI Lina from China secured on more Paralympics` final aiming second in a row gold medal. Her compatriot LIU Meng also advanced to the ultimate clash in Class 9. Poland`s Karolina PEK will play against host Danielle RAUEN for the bronze.   Women`s Class 10 One more remake of the 2012 final will be held in the Class 10 between Poland`s Natalia PARTYKA and Chinese YANG Qian. PARTYKA was faced with a huge task in the semis against host Bruna COSTA ALEXANDRE but won after 47 minutes – 3:2 (8:11 12:10 9:11 11:1 11:8). Sophie WALLOE a 16 year-old from Denmark was beaten by YANG in the semis 3:0 and will play for her first Paralympics medal.  

Saki SHIBATA and JANG Woojin newly crowned champions of the 2016 ITTF World Tour Belarus Open (Challenge) in Minsk. Konstantin CHERNOV and Sadi ISMAILOV from Russia runners-up of Men`s Doubles Event   Favorite player of host audience Viktoria PAVLOVICH from Belarus and Russian Grigory VLASOV are the runners-up of the singles events at the 2016 ITTF World Tour Belarus Open (Challenge) concluded today in Minsk. Two times individual women`s champion of Europe lost to 19-year old Saki SHIBATA from Japan 4:2 although she had advantage after first three sets while VLASOV was defeated by top seeded Korean JANG Woojin who managed to recover from 0:3 to 4:3.   Actual World no. 55 PAVLOVICH played 13 games in total in just few hours bearing in mind her semi-final victory against Yuka ISHIGAKI from Japan in seven sets. SHIBATA who recently jumped 57 places on the ITTF World ranking list (from 132 to 75) upset her compatriot top seeded Hitomi SATO (World no. 23).   “I’m glad to have won my 1st adult title. The match was lengthy with the last set being especially tough” stated Saki SHIBATA.   World no. 72 VLASOV played one of his best tournaments so far showing his strength in the semi-final clash against Japanese CHO Eonrae – 4:0 (11:8 11:9 11:7 11:5). He easily won first three games in final match but JANG responded sharply winning four sets in a row.   “This is my first world tournament title and I’m very happy. The final match turned out to be difficult since I was getting used to the opponent for at least 3 sets but then was able to choose the right tactics and win the match. I really enjoyed the tournament – it was very well organized – and next year I plan to come back to Belarus” emphasized JANG Woojin.   European representatives reached one more final as Russians Konstantin CHERNOV and Sadi ISMAILOV finished second at the Men`s Doubles Event.   Men`s Singles semi-finals: JANG Woojin (Korea) – Hunor SZOCS (Romania) 4:1 (7:11 11:5 11:6 14:12 11:4) Grigory VLASOV (Russia) – CHO Eonrae (Korea) 4:0 (11:8 11:9 11:7 11:5). Final: JANG Woojin – Grigory VLASOV 4:3 (8:11 7:11 5:11 11:7 11:5 11:3 11:5).   Women`s Singles semi-finals: Saki SHIBATA (Japan) – Hitomi SATO (Japan) 4:1 (8:11 11:7 11:9 11:5 11:9) Viktoria PAVLOVICH (Byelorussia) – Yuka ISHIGAKI (Japan) 4:3 (11:8 10:12 11:9 3:11 11:7 12:14 11:7). Final: Saki SHIBATA –Viktoria PAVLOVICH 4:2 (11:8 7:11 5:11 11:8 14:12 11:9).   Men`s Doubles final: JANG Woojin/LIM Jonghoon (Korea) – Konstantin CHERNOV/Sadi ISMAILOV (Russia) 3:1 (8:11 11:7 11:2 11:6).   Women`s Doubles final: Honoka HASHIMOTO/Hitomi SATO (Japan) – JUNG Yumi/PARK Seri (Korea) 3:1 (9:11 11:8 11:7 11:9).  

ETTU Secretary General Richard SCRUTON visited Minsk to inspect the facilities for organizing official international tournaments. While SCRUTON was there he met Minister of sport and tourism Alexander SHAMKO and BTTF President and Minister of Finance Vladimir AMARIN.   They visited several sports complexes which have been approved for hosting top European tournaments. Alexander SHAMKO has assured Secretary General Richard SCRUTON that he will offer full assistance in organizing the tournaments.

Two defending champions from 2012 London Natalia PARTYKA and Kelli VAN ZON won all their games in the group stage to reach semi-finals. Jiri SUCHANEK upset defending champion Jan RIAPOS in the Men`s Class 2   The 16 year-old Sophie WALLOE from Denmark stole the show in the Riocentro Pavilion 3 securing the spot in the Women`s Singles Class 10 semi-final of the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. She managed to recover from 0:2 to 3:2 in the decisive clash of the group stage against Australia`s Melissa Tapper – 3:2 (5:11 5:11 11:8 12:10 11:8). Previously they were both beaten by defending champion Natalia PARTIKA from Poland who is a main candidate for the gold. Semi-final pairs are:  YANG Qian (China) – Sophie WALLOE (Denmark) Natalia PARTYKA (Poland) – Bruna COSTA ALEXANDRE (Brazil).   Four European representatives will play in the semi-final of Women`s Singles Class 6: Sandra PAOVIC (Croatia) – Maryna LYTOVCHENKO (Ukraine) Steffi GREBE (Germany) – Antonina KHODZYNSKA (Ukraine). PAOVIC and GREBE reached top spots of their groups having 2-0 score.   Defending champion from 2012 London Kelly VAN ZON from Netherlands and Kubra KORKUT from Turkey will play against Stephanie CHAN (Canada) and KIM Seong-Ok (Korea) respectively in the semi-finals of Women`s Singles Class 7. VAN ZON and KORKUT competed in the same Group A where Netherlands` player won all three encounters.   Ingela LUNDBAECK (Sweden) beat Khetam ABUWAD from Jordan in straight games to reach the semi-final of Women`s Singles Class 5.   Silver medalist four years ago Thu KAMKASOMPHOU (France) and Juliane WOLF (Germany) progressed to the semi-final of Women`s Singles Class 8 having each 2-1 score from Group A.   Women`s Singles Class 1-2 bronze medalist from 2012 London Isabelle LAFAYE (France) lost to Chilchitparyak BOOTWANSIRINA (Thailand) in four games of the quarter-finals. Giada ROSSI (Italy) defeated Dorota Anna BUCLAW (Poland) 3:2 (8:11 11:5 9:11 11:5 11:7) in the most exciting game of that class so far in Rio.   Karolina PEK from Poland inscribed all three wins in the Group B of Women`s Singles Class 9 Event to secure semi-final berth. She will meet Chinese LIU Meng in the penultimate stage.   One more representative of Poland ensured its spot in the semis Krystyna SIEMIENIECKA in the Women`s Singles Class 11. She joined in that stage Natalia KOSMINA from Ukraine.   The runner-up from Men`s Class 1 from 2012 London Jean-Francois DUCAY from France and bronze medalist Paul DAVIES from Great Britain are approaching to these achievements. Both finished second in their groups to secure their places in the quarter-final stage. Defending champion Holger NIKELIS (Germany) lost both his games in the Group D hence will not continue his way to the new medal.   Four Old Continent`s players reached the semi-final of the Men`s Class 2 Event. Czech Republic Jiri SUCHANEK upset defending champion Jan RIAPOS from Slovakia coming from 0:2 to 3:2. Next SUCHANEK`s opponent will be the 2012 bronze medalist from France Fabien LAMIRAULT.   The 2012 Men`s Class 3 bronze medalist German`s Thomas SCHMIDBERGER overcame Jordan`s Asama ABU JAME 3:0 (11:4 11:4 11:9) to reach quarter-final. Two his compatriots joined him Thomas BRUCHLE and Jan GURTLER as well as Frenchman Florian MERRIEN who beat Vasyl PETRUNIV (Ukraine) in full five games.   Men`s Class 6 brought two amazing quarter-finals to two Spanish players but just one managed to progress in the semis. The 2012 runner-up Alvaro VALERA VARGAS beat David WETHERILL (Great Britain) in one of the longest matches (47 minutes) of the day – 3:2 (9:11 10:12 12:10 11:8 11:8) while Alberto SEOANE ALCARAZ lost to Thailand`s Rungroj THAINIYOM 3:2 (11:7 11:9 4:11 9:11 11:7).   Spain has one more semi-finalist in the Men`s Class 7 Jordi GARCIA MORALES who will play against 2012 semi-finalist William BAYLEY.