BISFed Individual Champs: Polychronidis advances

The defending BC3 Paralympic gold medallist won his second round and looks to advance from his pool. 23 Mar 2016

A picture of a man pushing a smal ball with a metal arm hooked to his head

Greece's Greg Polychronidis hit a perfect shot at the London 2012 Paralympic Games to win a gold medal.

ⒸGetty Images

By BISFed and IPC

Greg Polychronidis showed why he has been at the top of the BC3 rankings for many years. The Greek athlete closed day two of the BISFed 2016 World Individual Championships with a convincing victory on Tuesday (22 March) in Beijing, China.

Polychronidis, who won gold at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, narrowly won his opening round on Monday (21 March) with a 4-3 victory over Japan’s Daiki Kosaka. Then on Tuesday, Polychronidis showed strong form, cruising to a 5-1 over Singapore’s Sze Ning Toh and now looks to advance from the four-person group with competition continuing on Wednesday (23 March) with the third round of pool play.

There was also noise from spectators watching the BC1 competition, as Portugal’s Antonio Marques and Brazil’s Luiz Lima Fiho battled. Marques won the first end 2-0, but Fiho fought back, taking the second 2-0 to draw level. He then went on to further please the Brazilian supporters taking the next two ends and winning the tie overall 4-2.

But the one to beat in the BC1 category is Thailand’s defending Paralympic champion Pattaya Tadtong, who had a bye.

Tadtong will face China’s Zhang Qi, who defeated Venezuela’s Jose Gregorio Pagua Herrera 8-2 on Tuesday, to see who advances from their group.

Over at the BC2 competition, Brazilian favourite Maciel de Sousa Santos also enjoyed rest on Tuesday after winning his opening round 12-0 over Spain’s Manuel Angel Martin Perez. But South Korea’s Soyeong Jeong will take on Santos after winning his round over Perez 3-2 on Tuesday.

Hong Kong’s BC4 top player and 2016 Laureus Sport Awards nominee Yuk Wing Leung will return to action on Wednesday after a day of rest following his opening round 7-3 victory on Monday. Leung will take on China’s Ximei Lin, who defeated Argentina’s Tadeo Ivan Villagra 9-0.

Full day two results from day one the BISFed 2016 World Individual Championships are available on BISFed’s website.

The World Individual Championships will be the final opportunity for athletes to earn valuable world ranking points ahead of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. The competition runs until 25 March and will feature 137 athletes from 31 countries set to battle over four medal events.

A livestream is available online, and the Championships can also be followed on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #2016BISFedWIC.