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Australia’s Para-table tennis athletes will be chasing gold as a historic Friday in Tokyo secured four guaranteed medals, heading into Saturday’s first of three days of finals.
With the team events still to be contested next week, four medals is already the highest number for an Australian para-table tennis team since the last time the Paralympic Games were held in Tokyo, in 1964.
Ma Lin and Sam von Einem will look to add to their swag of previous Paralympic medals as they both clinched a spot in their class semi-finals, with exciting wins against Ukrainian Lev Kats and Spanish Eduardo Cuesta Martinez, respectively.
The two Aussies join teammate Li Na Lei, who had already qualified for the semi-final round in the Women’s Class 9.
Play-offs for third are not contested in Para-table tennis with both losing semi-finalists awarded a bronze medal.
Ma Lin didn’t look like a man who would settle for bronze as he kept his winning record intact and produced another convincing sweep against world no. 4 Kats. He is yet to drop a game in four matches in Tokyo.
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Sam von Einem staged an impressive comeback after losing the first game to Cuesta Martinez, but the Rio 2016 silver medallist maintained composure, and turned the match around for a solid 3-1 win.
“I started off a bit nervous in the first set, but then I settled into the match and a good start in the second game was what I needed. That carried on into the third set and really took off into the fourth,” von Einem said.
Despite his experience in Rio, von Einem admitted that the mental challenge is always present when you’re playing for medals.
“It starts to get into your head and the last few points feel like a huge mountain, but you really just need to think about winning the next point and get it over the line,” he said.
The South Australian will face Belgian world no. 2 Florian van Acker on Saturday for a place in the final.
“Van Acker is probably the best player around at the moment. He’s the reigning Paralympic and World Champion. He’s dominated the class 11 for the last few years, so he’s the big fish,” von Einem said.
In the other quarter-final, Rebecca Julian mounted a credible challenge to world no. 3 Maliak Alieva (RPC) in the first game, but was eventually defeated 3-0 in her maiden quarter-final appearance at her third Paralympic Games.
Australia is guaranteed another medal in the Women’s class 10, although in a heartbreaking fashion for the fans of the green and gold.
Qian Yang and Milly Tapper were drawn against each other to make up an all-Australian quarter-final.
Earlier in the day, Jake Ballestrino, Trevor Hirth and Joel Coughlan lost their last preliminary phase matches and did not qualify for the next stages.
It was unlucky for Coughlan, with the Queenslander pushing top-class Chinese Lian to his limits and coming just a few points short of a major upset in an epic 5-game match.
The Tokyo Games are not over for Ballestrino, Hirth and Coughlan, who will all take to the court again in the team events which start on Tuesday.
Para-table tennis singles matches continue on Saturday as the first of three medal days will assign Paralympic titles in five classes across men and women.
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Australian team results -Friday 27 August
Preliminary phase:
Men’s class 6 – Trevor Hirth v P. Karabardak (GBR): 0-3 (5-11, 8-11, 2-11)
Men’s class 7 – Jake Ballestrino v I. Pereira Stroh (BRA): 0-3 (5-11, 3-11, 6-11)
Men’s class 10 – Joel Coughlan v H. Lian (CHN): 2-3 (11-4, 5-11, 13-11, 4-11, 11-7)
Women’s class 10 – Qian Yang v F. Obazuaye (NGR): 3-0 (11-9, 11-1, 11-3)
Quarter-finals
Women’s class 6 – Rebecca Julian v M. Alieva (RPC): 0-3 (13-15, 4-11, 5-11)
Men’s class 9 – Ma Lin v L. Kats (UKR): 3-0 (11-8, 11-7, 11-7)
Men’s class 11 – Sam von Einem v E. Cuesta Martinez (ESP): 3-1 (8-11, 11-8, 11,7, 11-7)
What’s on Saturday 28 August – all times AEST
Quarter-finals
Women’s class 10 – Melissa Tapper v Qian Yang – 10.40am
Semi-finals
Women’s class 9 – Li Na Lei v A. Szvitacs (HUN) – 1.20pm
Men’s class 9 – Lin Ma v I Mai (UKR) – 1.20pm
* The Gold Medal match of the Class 9 Men’s Singles will be played 9:15pm Saturday 28 August
Men’s class 11 – Sam von Einem v Florian van Acker (BEL) – 2pm
Women’s class 10 – Winner Tapper/Yang – 2.40pm
By: Lauren Ryan, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 27 August 2021
