Greece again found themselves in the medals at Italy’s established ‘ITTF Fa20 Lignano Masters Para Open’ table tennis and again with one of their top representatives now, Evanthia-Irini Bournia. On the second day of competition in Lignano, the 16-year-old champion took third place in class 1 (wheelchair).
A single group of five athletes was formed and Bournia secured the podium with 2 wins, 2 losses and new remarkable performances.
Grigoris Chrysikos also took part in the big event of A.Me.A, also in class 1 of wheelchair athletes. For the men, five groups were formed and our champion was eliminated from the main draw, finishing in third place. He gave his best and had a record of 1 win and 2 losses.
The tournament will end next Saturday, but our athletes do not participate in the doubles.
Five athletes competed in the women’s class 1 singles and Bournia was third in the series. This is her position in the current world rankings and she was third favorite because Lignano is home to both the top two gymnasts. Of those she suffered losses, which means she was solid in one more tournament.
On Wednesday, she defeated Germany’s Margaret Spegel (World No. 4) 3-1 sets (12-10, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10) and later fought back 3-2 from Finland’s Aino Siri Tapola ( No 2), accepting the reversal from 2-0 sets (11-6, 11-5, 5-11, 5-11, 10-12).
On Thursday, Bournia defeated Israel’s Chagit Yona Brill (No. 5) 3-0 to secure the bronze medal (11-2, 11-7, 11-4). Finally, she was defeated by the number 1 in the world ranking, the Polish Dorota Buclav with 3-0 sets (6-11, 10-12, 7-11).
For the third time in the 2022 World Championships, the athlete from Kalamata had previously won the gold medal in the women’s singles of classes 1-2 last February in Egypt, at the opening ITTF Para TT tournament of 2023.
In the corresponding men’s class, Chrysikos (number 22 in the world ranking) competed on Wednesday and Thursday in the fourth and penultimate group. In his premiere, he lost to the Korean leader, Park Sung Joo (No. 5), with 3-0 sets (4-11, 6-11, 2-11).
In the second match, he defeated the Romanian Alexandros Amargioale with 3-0 sets (11-4, 11-6, 11-1).
On Thursday, he played the decisive match for the second privileged position against the Italian Andrea Borgato (No. 10). He was defeated with 3-0 sets and was left out of the “knock-out” stage (5-11, 4-11, 6-11).
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