Day Three at ITTF World Para Future - Gold Coast

On the third and final day of the ITTF World Para Future – Gold Coast, there was yet more sublime table tennis on show, as athletes from around the world continued to excel at the Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre.

Following the conclusion of the singles matches on Tuesday, play continued in the doubles on Wednesday, with more medals and ranking points on the line.

It was a near-flawless start to the day for India, who had athletes playing in all four of the opening matches, with the duos of Nurjahan Noorali Jamani & Yesdi Aspi Bhamgara, Dattaprasad Jotiram Chougule & Savita Vittal Ajjanakatti and Sonalben Patel & Sumit Sehgal all claiming victory.

Japan’s Genki Saito and Yuka Ikeyama however, also won their first fixture of the day, as they fighting their way past Shubham Wadhwa and Bhavina Patel in an 11-5, 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9 triumph.

Australian athletes were not in action until the second round of matches, when yesterday’s gold medal-winning Lina Lei and silver medal-winning Lin Ma continued their mixed doubles campaign against Chinese Taipei’s Jin Sian Su and Tzu Yu Lin.

The Australian athletes edged a tight first game 11-9, before Chinese Taipei roared back with an 11-1 win in the second. The loss of the second set galvanised Lei and Ma, who won both remaining games to secure gold, with three wins from three in their Mixed Doubles XD20 matches.

Qian Yang and Lucas Milson earnt themselves a silver medal, also in the Doubles XD20 classification, with two wins from three matches. Lei and Ma’s 3-2 victory over Milson and Yang on Tuesday afternoon proved decisive for the Australians.

It was an incredible final to decide the winner of the Mixed Doubles XD4-10, as a topsy-turvy game between Japan’s Genki Saito and Yuka Ikeyama and India’s Sumit Sehgal and Sonalben Patel was decided in the fifth game, as the Japanese duo came out on top with a 12-10 win in the last.

The medals kept on coming for Australia at the Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre. Lin Ma and Lucas Milson secured gold in the Men’s Doubles Class MD18, whilst Nathan Pellissier and Ian Kim secured bronze in the same event.

Upon the conclusion of the event, Chief Executive Officer of Table Tennis Australia, Nicole Adamson, stated: “We had an incredible three days here on the Gold Coast. To be able to welcome athletes from all across the world to Australia was extremely special, and there are so many people we have to thank for making the event the success it was. We are looking forward to the future, and creating many more of these moments as we celebrate all of our para athletes and coaches.”