Excitement mounted in the morning session of play on the third day of action in the Table Tennis events in the PKU Gymnasium on Tuesday; a place in the second stage of proceedings was at stake; only the first placed player in each of the groups qualifies for the knock-out section and the possibility of a precious medal.
In the wheelchair events (Classes 1-5) the competition was intense and it was the same in the Standing categories (Classes 6-10).
In the Women's Individual Class 4 event Monika Sikora-Weinmann of Germany, the Athens gold medalist plus Moon Sung-hye from the Republic of Korea, Zhou Ying of China and Borislava Peric of Serbia, the No. 1 seed, secured semifinal places.
Sikora-Weinmann maintained her unbeaten record to overcome ROK's Jun Ji-nam, while Peric completed her programme unscathed with victory over Fatmeh Al-Azzam of Jordan.
Similarly Zhou Ying continued her impressive run by defeating Sue Gilroy of Great Britain with Moon causing the surprise; in the crucial contest to determine top place, she beat Valeria Zorzetto of Italy, the silver medalist four years ago in Athens.
The semifinalists in Women's Individual Class 5 are also known now. They are Ren Guixiang of China, the defending champion, Andrea Zimmerer of Germany, the No. 1 seed, plus Gu Gai of China and Khetam Abuawad of Jordan.
All the four remained unbeaten in their respective group matches with Ren completing her program with victory over Ingela Lundback of Sweden, while Zimmerer defeated China's Zhang Bian and Abuawad accounted for Noga Nir Kistler of the United States. The one surprise was provided by Gu. In her concluding group match, she defeated Wei Mei-hui of Chinese Taipei, the 2004 bronze medalist.
The qualifiers are also known in Men's Individual Class 4-5 with Tommy Urhaug of Norway, the No. 1 seed plus Kim Byoung-young and Jung Eun-chang from the Republic of Korea, the respective Class 5 gold and silver medal winners in Athens, all emerging as group winners. Also finishing in first place in their groups and thus keeping medal hopes alive are: Ernst Bollden of Sweden, Choi Kyoung-sik of the Republic of Korea, zhang Yan of China and Emeric Martin of France.
Similarly, the decision of those who progress in Men's Individual Classes 9/10 is known with Jose Manuel Ruiz of Spain, the No. 1 seed plus Ge Yang of China, the Class 10 bronze medalist in 2004 and Fredrik Andersson of Sweden, the silver medalist four years ago, all booking their places.
Also through are Ma Lin of China, Gilles De La Bourdonnaye of France and Esa Miettinen of Finland. They all remained unbeaten.
The one remaining qualifier is Dezso Berecki from the Czech Republic, in a group where all three players recorded one win each and were level on games ratio, he gained the verdict on points ratio over countryman Ivan Karabec and Tajudeen Agunbiade of Nigeria.
Alas for the respective gold, silver and bronze medalists in the Athens Men's Individual Class 9 event, there was no further progress. Stanislaw Fraczyk of Austria, Lu Xiaolei of China and Tahl Leibovitz of the United States, all failed to qualify as did Ladislav Gaspar of Slovakia, the Class 10 gold medalist four years ago.
Meanwhile, in Men's Individual Class 3, Feng Panfeng of China, Jean-Philippe Robin of France, Thomas Pinas of Spain, Neil Robinson of Great Britain, Liran Geva of Israel, Florian Merrien of France and Zlatko Kesler of Serbia completed their group matches unbeaten. In 2004 Robin was the silver medalist while Kesler capturd bronze. Merrien is the No. 1 seed.
However, in the Men's Individual Class 8 event, the names of the qualifiers are not yet known and there could well be a new name standing on the top of the podium. Mathieu Loicq of Belgium, the gold medalist in Athens, was beaten by Piotr Grudzien of Poland.
Defeat for one Belgian but success for another. Marc Ledoux of Belgium, the silver medalist four years ago, beat Ian Kent of Canada while Richard Csejtey of Slovakia, the No. 1 seed and bronze medalist in Athens, overcame Hou Ting-sung of Chinese Taipei.
(BOCOG September 9, 2008)