Bronze for Fliss Pickard (women’s class 6), Shae Thakker (men’s class 10) and Nathan Drayner (men’s class 1) were the highlights for the British team in the singles events at the ITTF World Para Future Ostrava in Czechia today.
Women’s Class 6
Fliss Pickard (pictured above) started her tournament with an impressive win over reigning Paralympic champion Najlah Al Dayyeni from Iraq. She took the first set 11-6 before Al Dayyeni tipped the second set 15-13 to level at 1-1 but Pickard produced a great performance to take the next two sets 11-7, 11-3 to complete a 3-1 win.
She then lost a close match to old rival Katarzyna Marszal, the world and European silver medallist from Poland. Marszal led 2-0 before Pickard responded by edging the third set 12-10, but Marszal took the fourth set to win 3-1.
Pickard progressed to the semi-finals as group runner-up and faced European bronze medallist Cajsa Stadler from Sweden. She started strongly, winning the first set but Stadler fought back to take the second set and after edging the third set 15-13, went on to win the match 3-1.
“I feel it’s been a disappointing tournament for me,” said Pickard, “but I have learnt a lot and I’m ready to take that forward into China next week. I can also take positives from beating the reigning Paralympic champion and it’s now about maintaining that high level for longer periods of time.”
Men’s Class 10
Shae Thakker started his tournament strongly with a convincing 3-0 win over Croatia’s Petar Kovacicek and advanced to the quarter-finals despite a 3-0 loss to 2017 European Para Youth Games silver medalist Lorenzo Cordua from Italy.
Thakker produced another convincing 3-0 win in the quarter-final stage against Armenia’s Gevorg Beglaryan, taking the sets 11-6, 11-0, 11-5 to go through to the semi-final against the European Paralympic Youth Games champion Mio Wagner. Thakker took the first set 11-8 but the German responded well, taking the next three sets and winning the game 3-1.
“Overall, on reflection, it hasn’t been my best tournament,” said Thakker. “I wasn’t able to produce my best level in some matches, especially in my semi-final, which is disappointing. However, I’m incredibly grateful to Mat, Ihor, (BPTT coaches Mat Kenny and Ihor Zavadskyi) and my teammates for their support throughout the competition.
“It’s always a special feeling to come away with a medal for GB and it is something I will never take for granted. I’m now excited to keep my head down and focus on delivering stronger performances in Thailand next month.”
Max Flint lost his opening group match 3-1 against Mio Wagner but progressed to the quarter-finals after a 3-0 win over Kristijan Bozek from Croatia. Flint was knocked out of the tournament after a 3-0 loss to Italy’s Lorenzo Cordua.
Men’s Class 1
Pathway athlete Nathan Drayner lost his opening match 3-0 to last year’s bronze medallist and world No 13 Adam Urlauber from Hungary. In his second group match, he took the first set against Aldric Vincent and although the Canadian took the second set to level the score at 1-1, Drayner took the match 3-1 before advancing to the knockout stages with a 3-0 victory over Para Asian Championships bronze medallist Jehan Dorab Madan from India.
Drayner faced 2023 European champion and 2024 Paralympic bronze medallist Endre Major in his semi-final and the Hungarian showed all his experience to take the match 3-0.
“I’m really pleased with my performance,” said Drayner, “considering my sister sadly passed away last week. It took a lot for me to even come to Czechia, but I did it for her.
“On the whole, I’m really pleased to win my first international medal. I managed to fight hard through every match to get to the semi-final against Major but unfortunately, it came to a stop as he was simply the stronger player.
“Reflecting on the tournament, I would say I did my sister proud but also there’s a lot to work on back in training and hopefully I’ll be able to come back stronger.”
Men’s Class 3
In his opening match Neil Robinson fought back from 1-0 down to take a 2-1 lead over three-time European champion Florian Merrien before the Frenchman responded strongly and took the final two sets to win the match 3-2. Robinson then edged a close third set 13-11 to beat Czechia’s Martin Garba 3-0 to advance to the round of 16.
The Welshman faced Maciej Nalepka from Poland, who won silver in this event last year, and took the match 3-1, responding well after losing the second set 11-2. In the quarter-final, Robinson led 2-1 against Dacian Makszin from Romania and although he continued to fight hard, Makszin won the fourth and fifth sets to take the match 3-2.
Women’s Class 9
Lowri Hurd started her tournament with a superb 3-2 win over world and two-time European champion Alexa Szvitacs. Hurd edged the opening set 15-13 before Szvitacs fought back to lead 2-1. Hurd took the fourth set to level the match and completed a 3-2 win, 11-8 in the fifth.
Hurd started well against Thea Amalie Nielsen, taking the first set, but the former European silver medallist from Denmark, who won silver at this event last year, fought back to take the match 3-1 and with Szvitacs beating Nielsen, Hurd was unlucky to miss out on a place in the knockout stages on countback.
Men’s Class 8
Ryan Henry started his tournament with a straight sets win over Emir Yigit Birlik from Turkey, and was then a 3-1 winner against Poland’s Marcin Zielinski. He faced Robert Marian Boroleanu from Romania in his final group match and after losing the first set, Henry fought back to take a 2-1 lead and took the fifth set 11-7 to win 3-2 after Boroleanu had levelled at 2-2.
That took Henry into the round of 16, where he lost 3-1 against the European Paralympic Youth Games silver medallist Leonardo Maria Coletta from Italy.
Men’s Class 7
Bailey Page recovered from losing the first set against Mitja Matesic from Slovenia, to take the match 3-1. Page then lost 3-1 to the European Paralympic Youth Games bronze medalist Filip Prchlik from Czechia, but progressed to the knockout stages after a 3-0 win over Hadar Bahat from Israel.
Page received a bye into the quarter-finals, where he was beaten 3-0 by world No 13 Michal Deigsler from Poland.
Men’s Class 6
Dan Thomson lost his opening group match against two-time European Championships medallist and current world No 2 Bobi Simion from Romania 3-0 but advanced to the quarter-finals after a 3-1 win over India’s Pramod Kumar. Thomson was knocked out of the tournament after a 3-0 loss to European Paralympic Youth Games bronze medallist Clement Latorre from France.
Men’s Class 4-5
Thomas Hepburn lost his opening match 3-0 to Sweden’s Isak Nyholm before achieving his first international victory with a straight sets win over Arman Sargsyan from Armenia. Hepburn did not progress from his group after a 3-0 loss to Ryota Nakamura from Japan.