China added two gold, two silver and one bronze to their medal tally
in the table tennis events in the Peking University Gymnasium on the
morning of the fifth day of action, Thursday 11th September 2008.
Feng Panfeng and Lei Lina captured gold, silver medals went to Lui Meili and Ye Chaoqun; Zhang Xiaoling won bronze.
The successes delighted the near capacity crowd who if there was not a Chinese player to support soon found a favourite.
Seeded No.6, Feng Panfeng won Men’s Individual Class 3 beating
Jean-Philippe Robin of France, seeded No. 5, in the final. Bronze went
to Tomas Pinas who overcame Luis Algacir Silva of Brazil in the crucial
contest.
All China Final
Meanwhile,
for Lei Lina, the top prize came at the expense of her compatriot, Liu
Meili; in a repeat of the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games final, she
reversed the verdict of four years ago to secure gold in Women’s
Individual class 9.
The bronze medal went to Neslihan Kavas of Turkey, who defeated Poland’s Malgorzata Grzelak to secure the precious award.
Extrovert German
Two gold medals for China but in Men’s Individual Class 7, it was silver for Ye Chaoqun.
In
the final he was beaten by the exuberant Jochen Wollmert of Germany
who, at the end of the contest roared his approval in Tarzan like
style, then threw his racket high in the air, failed to catch the
descending object, which duly finished prone on the table.
However,
that did not deter the extrovert German; he ran alongside the side of
the arena finishing his fifteen metres of celebration by throwing his
racket into the crowd! The memento was well received by his new found
Chinese fans.
Gold for Germany, whilst for Spain it was bronze;
in the third place contest Alvaro Valera defeated Mitchell Siedenfeld
of the United States.
Medal for Zhang Xiaoling
Two
gold and two silver medals for China, the bronze came in Women’s
Individual Class 8 with Zhang Xiaoling, a lady who holds no less the
five Paralympic gold medals, defeating Claire Marie of France.
Gold
went to the latter’s compatriot, Thu kamkasomphu who encouraging
herself vocally after every point, defeated Sweden’s Josefin
Abrahamsson in the final.
European Success
Success for Europe and in the two other categories to be resolved there was more European success.
Russia’s
Natalia Martyasheva secured gold in Women’s Individual Classes 6/7
beating colleague Yulia Ovsyannikova in the final, with Kelly Van Zon
of the Netherlands, the top seed, securing bronze; she defeated Egypt’s
Faiza Mahmoud in the decisive duel.
Gold for Austria
Meanwhile, in Men’s Individual Class 1 it was success for Austria’s Andreas Vevera.
Seeded
no. 1 he clinched gold at the expense of Korea’s Cho Jae Kwan; the
bronze medal went to the latter’s compatriot Lee Hae Kon.
He defeated Jean-Francois Ducay to secure his prize.
Source: www.ittf.com
