There were no singles medals for a young and largely inexperienced British squad at the ITTF Montenegro Para Open in Podgorica today but there were some promising performances from the Confirmation, Pathway and Futures athletes against strong opposition, with good wins against higher ranked opponents for Ryan Henry (men’s class 8) and Chris Ryan (men’s class 2) and a first win for Devon teenager Bailey Page on his international debut.
Men’s class 8
Ryan Henry (pictured above) was a 3-0 winner against the unranked Uros Gugolj from Montenegro and then recovered from losing the first set against Zeev Glikman to beat the veteran former class 7 world and Paralympic champion from Israel 3-1.
A 3-0 win against the unranked Miljan Cerovic from Bosnia and Herzegovina took him through to the last 16 as group winner. After edging a tight first set against the Belgian Hamza Taleb 16-14, Henry took the next two 11-4 11-7 for a 3-0 win which took him through to face the top seed Clement Berthier.
The 23-year-old Scot started well, taking the first set 11-4 and he took the third 11-6 to lead 2-1 after Berthier had levelled at 1-1. The world No 7 and European doubles champion from France then used all his experience to level at 2-2 and take the deciding set 11-4.
“I’ve had a good competition in Montenegro,” said Henry, “having topped my group and won my last 16 match beating two players ranked quite a bit higher than me. I’m disappointed not to get the result against Berthier but he’s a world-class player and I played well to take two sets.
“I feel that the hard work I’m putting in living in Sheffield is paying off as my results are starting to improve with each competition.”
Men’s class 10
Max Flint had a tough opening match against world No 2 Filip Radovic and the European silver medallist and Tokyo bronze medallist from Montenegro was a 3-0 winner.
A 3-0 win against 16-year-old Ryan Saldamha Santos from Brazil secured Flint’s place in the quarter-final and he started well against Marlon Lopez, taking the first set 11-9, but the 16-year-old Spaniard came back to win the match 3-1.
Men’s class 2
Chris Ryan edged a tight second set 16-14 to level at 1-1 against world No 10 Martin Ludrovsky but the former world and Paralympic team gold medallist from Slovakia took the third 12-10 and went on to complete a 3-1 win.
Ryan kept himself in contention with a 3-1 win against Goran Perlic, the world No 13 from Serbia but did not progress after a 3-0 loss to Luis Bustamante Flores, the world No 5 and Para PanAmerican champion from Chile.
Men’s class 3
Romain Simon was beaten 3-0 by world No 7 Jang Yeongjin from the Republic of Korea and then lost in four close sets to Frenchman Yorick Adjal, bronze medallist in the Brazilian Open earlier this year.
Men’s class 6
Daniel Thomson lost his first match to Ignacio Torres Orostica, the world No 5 from Chile 3-0 and was then edged out 14-12 in the fourth in a 3-1 loss to 17-year-old newcomer Luca Vidovic from Serbia. He did not progress from group 1 after a 3-0 loss to world No 19 Benedikt Muller from Germany.
In group 3, Jacob Wicks lost 3-0 to world No 13 Matias Pino Lorca from Chile and was then beaten 3-1 by 15-year-old Samuel Altshuler from USA.
He took the first set against world No 10 Esteban Herrault before the European doubles champion from France recovered to take the match 3-1.
Men’s class 7
On his debut, Bailey Page had a tough first match against the very experienced Paulo Salmin Filho and lost 3-0 to the Para PanAmerican champion from Brazil.
After losing the first set in his second match, Page showed his potential in beating Pjetro Paljusevic from Montenegro 3-1 to record his first international win.
He had his chances to take the second set against Yannick Paredis although ultimately beaten 3-0 by the Costa Brava Spanish Open bronze medallist from Netherlands and did not progress from group 3 after finishing in third place.
In group 4, Theo Bishop lost 3-1 to 14-year-old individual neutral athlete Daniil Domanevskii and was then beaten 3-0 by Krizander Magnussen, the 17-year-old Egypt Para Open silver medallist from Norway.
Although Bishop finished with a 3-0 win against the unranked Slobodan Mihailovic from Montenegro he also finished in third place and did not progress.
Men’s class 9
Craig Allen was beaten 3-0 by world No 2 Ma Lin from Australia and was then a 3-0 winner against the unranked Vedran Vulin from Croatia, who last competed in 2013.
Allen went out at the group stage after a 3-0 loss to American Logan Watson, the Para PanAmerican bronze medallist.
Young GB athletes show promise in Montenegro Table Tennis England.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login