Thakker takes gold at the French Para Open

British Para Table Tennis Pathway athlete Shae Thakker from High Wycombe (pictured above) won his first gold medal in the men's Class 10 singles at the 2024 SQY French Para Open at Voisins les Bretonneux in the south-west outskirts of Paris on Tuesday. Chris Ryan was just eliminated in the men's class 1-2 final to take silver, while Max Flint took bronze in men's class 10.

Men's class 10

Shae Thakker won 3-1 against 18-year-old Dominik Bartosik from Poland and advanced from group 3 despite a 3-0 defeat against 16-year-old Marlon Lopez from Spain. He won his quarter-final against Yann Yi Ming Gores with 3 -0 and then produced a great performance to beat Poland's world number 12, Pawel Wlodyka, 3-2. He fought back from 2-1 to a close fourth set at 12-10 before taking the fifth 11-9.

That took him through to his first final where he faced Marat Surtubayev, the 52-year-old newcomer from Kazakhstan. Thakker started well and won a narrow second set 13-11 to take a 2-0 lead, but Surtubayev came back to 2-2 and leveled it in a nerve-wracking decisive set that Thakker eventually won 15-13 after losing four match points. have saved.

I am very proud to have won my first gold medal for GB, said 21-year-old Thakker, who is studying for a Masters in Sports and Exercise Psychology at the University of Sheffield and competing in his first international tournament for more than a year. It feels like it has taken a long time and I am so happy that I have finally achieved this. Although I don't feel like I started the tournament in the best way, I think I managed to reset well for the day and go again. Beating a player from the top 15 in the world in the semi-final gave me a lot of confidence and I tried to take this into the final. It was a good match and my opponent was very strong and kept fighting, so I am very happy that I was able to win in the end, saving four match points.

I would like to thank Shaun (BPTT Pathway Manager Shaun Marples) and Matjaz (BPTT Pathway coach Matjaz Sercer) who have been so supportive of me. Both give me so much confidence and I am so grateful to them.

Max Flint won his first match against 17-year-old newcomer Yann Yi Ming Gores from the Netherlands 3-1 and after beating 14-year-old newcomer Jan Dukalski from Poland 3-0, he received a bye in the semi-finals as winner of group 2. After losing the first two sets to Marat Surtubayev, he fought back to win the third 11–8, but Surtubayev took the fourth 11–6 to secure a 3–1 win.

“I thought I played well in the group matches,” Flint said. I was a little nervous at the beginning, but I played myself into it and prepared well for every match. One thing I could have done better was play more positively and relaxed, but I have enjoyed the whole experience so far and will use it as a learning experience when I return.

Men's class 1-2

With men's classes 1 and 2 combined, Chris Ryan started with a 3-0 win against Ivan Pombo Fernandez of Spain, followed by a 3-1 victory against Alan Papirer, the Class 1 former European team silver medalist from France. He led 9-4 and 10-7 in the first set against Dirk Kretzschmar before the Swiss Class 2 player came back to take the lead at 12-10. Ryan took the next two 11-5 11-4, but Kretzschmar took the fourth 11-7 to level at 2-2 and put it into a deciding set. The Swiss appeared to have the momentum and led 3-0, but Ryan fought back to take the set 11-6 and secure his place in the quarter-finals as group winners.

After winning a tight first set 13-11, he recorded a 3-0 victory against Mitsuhiro Matsuo, the former Asian Para Games team silver medalist from Japan, and then defeated his compatriot Masanori Uno 3-0 in the semi-final.

In the final he faced the very experienced Tomasz Jakimczuk, the bronze medalist in world and European doubles from Poland. The pair met in Slovenia in May when world number 19 Jakimczuk won in four sets and at 2-0, 9-5 he looked on course for a 3-0 win. But Ryan, who led the British wheelchair rugby team to gold in Tokyo, is nothing if not a fighter and he came back to level the third set 11-9 and the fourth 11-8 at 2-2. The fifth set was nip and tuck throughout and Ryan had match points at 10-9 and 11-10, but Jakimczuk saved them both before taking the set 15-13 on his third match point to secure the gold.

“I'm happy with how I played today,” Ryan said. The first two matches I was a lot more focused and locked in compared to yesterday, which was good and I'm proud of the fight in the final. I found something during the match and fought back. It's obviously disappointing to lose after getting match points, but I think progress was made when I wrestled him last time. A big winter of practice now.

Men's class 6

In Group 1, Daniel Thomson started well against Piotr Manturz, taking the first set 12-10 before the number one from Poland came back to win 3-1. The 19-year-old from Brighton reached the quarter-finals as second in the group after a 3-0 win against Amalio Castillo Rodrigues of Spain, but went out after a 3-0 defeat to Nicklas Jensen of Denmark.

Jacob Wicks recovered from 8-4 down in the first set to beat experienced former Asian Championships medalist Junki Itai of Japan 3-0 and followed that with a 3-0 win against Francisco Gomez Jimenez of Spain. He lost his final match in Group 2 against Rafal Kraft, the Czech Para Open bronze medalist from Poland, 3–1, but advanced to the quarter-finals where he lost 3–0 to the US Open bronze medalist in 2023, Gabriel Seguin from Canada.

Men's class 7

Theo Bishop won 3-0 against Pablo Romero of Spain and then lost a close five-set battle against Austrian Christian Scheiber 11-8 in the deciding set. At 2-0, 8-5 he looked to be heading for a 3-0 win against Huang Ren Ting, but a timeout worked well for the 19-year-old from Chinese Taipei and he took the set 12-10 before Bishop a 3-1 win with 13-11 in the fourth. That took him to a quarter-final against world number 10 Bjoern Schnake and although he took the third set 12-10 to keep himself in the match, the European bronze medalist from Germany won 3-1.

Men's class 8

Ryan Henry won 3-0 against newcomer Diego Carrasco Olivos from Spain and was then defeated 3-0 by 21-year-old Frenchman Edgar Empis. He advanced from Group 5 second after a 3-1 win against Mohit Singh of Germany, but bowed out after a 3-1 defeat in the last 16 to Nicklas Westerberg, the former European Class 7 bronze medalist of Sweden.

On his international debut, Jaiden Caldeira lost 3-0 to Polish teenager Marcin Zielinski and 3-0 to 16-year-old Yehonatan Levi of Israel. In his last group match against Hamza Taleb, he fought back well from 2-0 to 2-2, but did not progress from group 2 after losing the deciding set to the Belgian 11-6.

The tournament continues with the doubles events concluding tomorrow.

The full British squad for the SQY French Para Open is:

Chris Ryan, 33, Welwyn Garden City (Class 2)

Daniel Thomson, 19, Brighton/Sheffield (Class 7)

Jacob Wicks, 19, Cwmbran/Sheffield (Class 6)

Jaiden Caldeira, 20, Barnet (Class 8)

Max Flint, 20, Guildford/Loughborough (Class 10)

Ryan Henry, 24, Ardrossan/Sheffield (Class 8)

Shae Thakker, 21, High Wycombe/Sheffield (Class 10)

Theo Bishop, 21, Rossendale/Sheffield (grade 7)