Para-Table Tennis Athletes Play Through at European Champs

Athletes from all around the world made Genova, Italy, their main destination over the last few days, as the 2009 ITTF Para Table Tennis European Championships finished its full one-week run on Friday.

From 6-12 June, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) sanctioned the event, with over 280 athletes coming into the Italian coastal city.

The finals saw a string of intense performance on 12 June. In the Women’s singles class 1-5 competition, four strong athletes made it to the finals. Eventually the top player was Mataja Pintar from Slovenia, followed by Alena Kanova from neighbouring Slovakia and Borislava Rankovic from Serbia. The Men’s singles class incurred the same layout, with Christophe Durand from France taking first place, followed by compatriots Jean Philippe Robin and Maxime Thomas respectively.

Results from previous days were wide-ranging, with many athletes reaching the top of their competition. On 10 June for example, the singles events took over the day.

Some of the top position winners in the women’s events that day included Pamela Pezzutto (ITA) in the class SF1-2. Pezzutto was followed by Nadezda Pushpasheva (RUS) and Catherine Mitton (GBR). In class SF3, Alena Kanova (SVK) took first, followed by Meteja Pintar (SLO) and Anna-Carin Ahlquist (SWE) respectively. In the SF4 class, Borislava Rankovic from Serbia took first, followed by Susan Gilroy from Great Britain and Andreja Dolinar from Slovenia.

The men’s competition was no less impressive, with athletes drawing cheers and enthusiasm from the crowd. In the SM1 class, familiar athlete Holger Nikelis from Germany took top position. Nikelis was followed by Andreas Vevera (AUT) and Jean Francois (FRA) respectively. The SM2 class had Jan Riapos (SVK) in first position, followed by Stephane Molliens (FRA) and Lars Juul Hansen from Denmark. France’s Florian Merrien topped the SM3 class, with Serbia’s Zlatko Kesler and Germany’s Jan Guertler taking second and third respectively.