online_spread_111_1-96

days in
Tokyo
China concluded the Tokyo 2020
Paralympic Games on Friday 3 rd
September well ahead of the field in
terms of medals; of a total 31 events,
they captured 16 gold, four silver and
six bronze; reward for a year-long
preparation programme.
Members of their team, Feng
Panfeng, Yan Shuo and Zhao Shuai
emerged successful in both the men’s
singles and men’s team events, a feat
also achieved in the women’s singles
and women’s team competitions
by their colleagues Liu Jing, Mao
Jingdian, Xue Juan, Zhang Bian and
Zhou Ying. The one other player to
complete the double was Frenchman,
Fabien Lamirault.
Outstanding performances but
there was far more to the events in
the Metropolitan Gymnasium than
saluting performances of excellence.
It would be wrong to suggest the
colour of the medal did not matter
but greater importance was the fact
that a medal had been gained; it not
only meant the player had achieved
on the biggest stage of all, it meant
they had proved themselves, their
Joo Youngdae, men›s singles class 1 Fabien Lamiraut singles class 2
Feng Panfeng, men›s singles class 3 Valentin Baus, men›s singles class 4
disability was their strength. The
situation was exemplified in women’s
team class 4-5, when at the sixth
attempt Great Britain’s Sue Bailey
claimed bronze partnering Megan
Shackleton. Conversely for 22-yearold
Megan Shackleton it was a medal
on debut!
Overall, the leading names prevailed
but there was one result that stood
out from the rest, at the semi-final
stage of women’s singles class
10, Poland’s Natalia Partyka, gold
medallist on each occasion since
winning in 2004 in Athens, was
beaten by Australia’s Yang Qiang.
Great credit must go Natalia Partyka
on her behaviour in the face of
shattering disappointment but even
more so on the way she responded.
In the women’s team class 9-10 final
she beat Yang Qiang in straight
games, having shepherded colleague
Karolina Pek to doubles success
against Lei Li Na and Yang Qiang.
Since arriving from China, Lei Li
Na and Yang Qiang alongside their
male counterpart, Ma Lin, have
added quality to the Australian cause.
Melissa Tapper, the winner of the
women’s singles para event at the
Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth
Games, had to sit courtside watching
the team action unfold. Surely, she
was the best reserve in Tokyo and
in any other outfit, bar China, would
have commanded a place. Rather
differently, Ma Lin found himself
at the other side of the fence; in
both London and Rio de Janeiro, he
had been a member of the Chinese
outfit that claimed men’s team class
9-10 gold. In Tokyo he had to settle
for silver; he was beaten by former
teammate Lian Hao in the match that
brought proceedings to a close.
Alas, spectators were absent, but that
fact did not detract from the emotion
and passion of the occasion. The
sheer delight on the face of India’s
Bhavinaben Patel and her husband,
her erstwhile coach, as she reached
the women’s singles class 4 final; the
leaps for joy by Paul Karabardak, like
a child on Christmas morning, when
he beat Spain’s Anton Valera for the
first time in his career to secure Great
Britain a place in the men’s team class
6-7 final. Equally, the scenes when
mobbed by colleagues, after winning
men’s singles class 4, Abdullah
Ozturk fell out of his wheelchair and
finished sitting on the floor.
Also, there was drama. In the gold
medal men’s singles contests, in
class 5, Germany’s Valentin Baus
saved one match point in the fourth
game, before overcoming China’s
Cao Ningning. Similarly, by the
very narrowest of decisions in the
deciding fifth game, Fabien Lamirault
Abdullah Ozturk, men’s singles class 5 Ian Seidenfeld, men’s singles class 6
Valentin Baus, men›s singles class 4
Yan Shuo, men’s singles class 7
Laurens Devos, men’s singles class 9
50 - SWAYTHLING - N o 111 N o 111 - SWAYTHLING - 51