French players hit top form in table tennis

Yeung Chi Ka produces dominant display in women's competition 31 Aug 2012
Imagen
Table tennis

Table tennis action from London 2012.

ⒸGetty

The celebration of the day went to Egypt’s Sameh Salah, who threw himself out of his chair and kissed the floor after beating Peter Mihalik 3-2 to top group F with maximum points.

French players shook up the London 2012 Paralympic Games table tennis competition by recording an astonishing 21 wins across 11 different classes in men's and women's preliminary single's matches at ExCeL on Friday (31 August).

Thomas Bouvais overcame a massive size and reach disadvantage to beat Vadym Kubov (UKR) 3-2 in a gripping men's class 9 match that had a largely British crowd cheering for the player from across the Channel.

Bouvais grabbed the crowd's attention with a brilliant comeback in his match against the talented left-hander Kubov, recovering from a two-game deficit to eventually win the thrilling decider 11-7 and secure his place in the quarter-finals.

But the celebration of the day went to Egypt’s Sameh Salah, who threw himself out of his chair and kissed the floor after beating Peter Mihalik 3-2 to top group F with maximum points.

Hong Kong’s Choy Hing Lam also booked a place in the last eight, beating Croatia’s Vjekoslav Gregorovic.

Elsewhere, Thomasz Kusiak beat David Wetherill while Kim Daybell got the better of Jorge Cardona.

In the women’s singles, Hong Kong’s Yeung Chi Ka disposed of Poland’s Krystyn Siemieniecka 3-0, while China’s Lei Lina and Liu Meili topped their respective groups in class 9 to book their places in the quarter-finals.

Great Britain's Sue Gilroy lost 3-1 to Moon Sung Hye (KOR), a result that sees the result sees the four-time Paralympian bow out of the singles event.

The favourite in women's class 10, Natalia Partyka (POL) beat Yang Qian (CHN) 3-0 in just 17 minutes (11-4, 11-7, 11-9).