Final day at European Para Table Tennis Championships see 15 pairs win doubles gold

The final day of action at the ITTF European Para Table Tennis Championships in Sheffield saw 15 pairs win gold in the men’s women’s and mixed doubles competitions.

It was a triumphant day for the Polish team which finished top of the medal standings and had three players who won in all three categories and remained unbeaten throughout the Championships Karoline Pek Natalia Partyka and Patryk Chojnowski.

In Thursday’s singles Pek and Partyka won the women’s class 9 and 10 (respectively) while 2020 Paralympic champion Chojnowski triumphed in the men’s class 10.  In doubles he teamed-up with Partyka to win the mixed class 20 and Piotr Grudzien to take the men’s class 18 coming from two sets down to beat the defending champions Lev Kats and Ivan Mai of Ukraine in a classic match at the start of the afternoon session.

Pek linked-up with Grudzien to win the class 17 mixed doubles before finishing the day in fine style by winning the women’s doubles class 20 with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Neslihan Kavas and Merve Demir Turkey in the last session of the Championships.

After her three-medal triumph Pek said: “It’s amazing to win three gold medals.  In the singles event I won my first gold medal so I am very happy.  To win two more without losing a single set I think is really amazing. I am really proud of myself of my work and I am hungry for more.

“I think I am more mature now. I am 25 and I have lost three singles finals before so luckily this time I won. I have family here in England so maybe that is why – I should come here more often to play matches.

On the medal table-topping performance of the Polish team at the European Championships in Sheffield she explained: “We have very good players in all classes. We have very good conditions to train in Poland.  We have great coaches great staff.  We really want to win our matches so maybe that is why.”

Speaking next to her doubles partner after their gold medal victory Partyka added: ““Not bad! Pretty good!  It was our goal to win three golds and I am happy that we achieved that.  It’s the first time I have won all three events as previously we played singles and team event so it was only possible to win two golds. 

“I think I have played well enough this week. In the singles event my most difficult match was the final.  We know each other very well and she was leading me but then I found my way to play better and I am happy with my performance.  I am thinking about the Paralympics already but I just want to play without pressure.   It’s been a long week and we are tired but happy.”

Other standout performers in six-days of world class action at Sheffield’s English Institute of Sport included Thomas Schmidberger and Valetin Baus.  The German duo won their categories in singles before teaming up for the doubles where they made short work of France’s Maxine Thomas and Emerik Martin in today’s men’s class 8 final with a comfortable 3-0 victory.

Schmidberger said: “This is a good week. (To be singles and doubles champion) was the goal and when you set goals and you reach them it always feels very good.  Going through a tournament unbeaten does not happen so often. 

“We had some trouble when we started playing doubles in international tournaments but we worked hard and worked on our mistakes and I think we are on a good way for Paris next year.”

Baus said: “It’s a good feeling to win singles and doubles.  We played some good matches and we are very happy to win our first doubles titles.  We are looking forward to Paris.  The main goal this week was to play good and win the title.  Every title is a nice thing and I am very happy about it.”

Others who won titles in singles and doubles included: Andela Muzinic Vincetic of Croatia (Singles 3 and Mixed 5-10) Italy’s Giada Rossi (Singles class 2 and mixed doubles class 4) and Ukrainian teammates Viktor Didukh (Single class 8 and mixed doubles class 14) and Maryna Lytovchenko (Singles class 6 and mixed doubles class 14).

Giada Rossi said: “I am very happy and proud of what we have done.  We played well because we win.  We are a good team.  This is a good venue to play in so we had a good feeling.

“Last year me and Federico won silver in world champs and I won gold in singles so it was important to come here and win this championship because we are the best European double.”

All of the results from the ITTF European Para Table Tennis Championships 2023 can be viewed at 

https://www.ittf.com/tournament/5484/ITTF-European-Championships-2023/

The full list of doubles winners is:

 

CLASS

WINNER

 

RUNNER-UP

 

Men’s

4

Julien Michaud /

Fabien Lamirault

FRA

Iker Sastre /

Miguel Angel Toledo

ESP

8

Thomas Schmidberger / Valentin Baus

GER

Maxine Thomas /

Emerik Martin

FRA

14

Esteban Herrault /

Clement Berthier

FRA

Henrik Brammer /

Peter Rosenmeier

DEN

18

Patryk Chojnowski / 

Piotr Grudzien

POL

Lev Kats /

Ivan Mai

UKR

22

Grp

Lucas Edouard Creange / Timothe Ivaldi

FRA

Maciej Makajew /

Damian Fira

POL

Women’s

5-10

Helena Dretar Karic /

Andela Muzinic Vincetic

CRO

 

Nada Matic /

Borislava Peric Rankovic

SRB

14

Aida Dahlen /

Merethe Tveiten

NOR

Juliane Wolf /

Stephanie Grebe

GER

 

20

Natalia Partyka /

Karolina Pek

POL

Neslihan Kavas /

Merve Demir

TUR

Mixed

4

Federico Crosara /

Giada Rossi

ITA

Rafal Czuper /

Dorota Buclaw

POL

7

Thomas Oliver Bruechle / Sandra Mikolaschek

GER

Mladen Ciric /

Borislava Peric-Rankovic

SRB

10

Grp

Ali Ozturk /

Irem Oluk

TUR

Jack Hunter-Spivey /

Meg Shackleton

GBR

14

Viktor Didukh /

Maryna Lytovchenko

UKR

Jean-Paul Montanus /

Kelly Von Zan

NED

17

Piotr Gudzien /

Karolina Pek

POL

Andras Csonka /

Alexa Szvitacs

HUN

20

G

Patryk Chojnowski /

Natalia Partyka

POL

Mateo Boheas /

Thu Kamkasomphou

FRA

22

Grp

Maciej Makajew /

Ewa Cychowska

POL

Zhao Antoine /

Lea Ferney

FRA

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The European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) is the governing body of the sport of table tennis in Europe, and is the only authority recognized for this purpose by the International Table Tennis Federation. The ETTU deals with all matters relating to table tennis at a European level, including the development and promotion of the sport in the territories controlled by its 58 member associations, and the organization of continental table tennis competitions, including the European Championships.

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