Birmingham Day 6 Match Reports
Today saw the start of the individual matches in the table tennis arena here at B2022. It was a busy day as we had 5 players competing in the group stages.
First up was Chloe Thomas Wu Zhang who faced Maphanga from South Africa. It was a comfortable start for Chloe who secured a 4-0 victory. Chloe then faced Ali from the Maldives in her final group match and despite a tight second set that ended in a 12-10 victory for Chloe the power and consistency Chloe demonstrated throughout the game was too much for Ali and Chloe secured a second 4-0 win.
Anna Hursey played her first match of the day on show court 2 against Spicer from Trinidad and Tobago. Anna was in control from the start and she secured a comfortable 4-0 victory. Jalim from Mauritius was Anna’s second opponent of the day, and again Anna secured another fantastic 4-0 victory and finished her group on top.
Both Chloe and Anna join Charlotte in the last 32 of the women’s singles event that begins on Thursday 4th August.
Grace Williams began her individual battle in the women’s class 6-10 against Lei of Australia. Grace fought hard and demonstrated some great table tennis but Lei was just too strong on the day for Grace and won the match 3-0. Grace returned to the table later in the afternoon playing Olo of the Solomon Islands with a fantastic Welsh crowd cheering her on. Grace put Olo under pressure from the start and although Olo put up a good fight Grace secured a 3-0 victory. Tomorrow Grace plays Fliss Pickard from England as she tries to secure a place in the semi final.
Callum Evans started his B2022 campaign with a match against Crea from the Seychelles. Evans won a tight first set 11-9 but took full control from here on in and won 6,4 and 3 in the final three sets. Callum faced Elia from Cyprus in his second group match and from the outset Callum took control and displayed some fantastic table tennis during his 4-0 victory.
Joshua Stacey playing in the men’s class 8-10 event took on Chee from Malaysia in his first group match and despite losing the third set 11-9 Josh secured a 3-1 victory. His second match of the day was against Agunbiade from Nigeria. The first set was won by Agunbiade 17-15 but Josh turned the match around winning 3-1 against the experienced former Paralympic champion. Josh returns to the table tomorrow morning to play Kailis from Cyprus in his final group match.
A great start to the individual events for the Welsh contingency competing here in Birmngham. Tomorrow Charlotte and Callum face the English pairing of Sam Walker and Maria Tsaptsinos in the mixed doubles, Grace and Josh play their last group matches and Charlotte, Chloe and Anna will all be on court playing in the last 32 of the women’s singles.
