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Australia has won all three matches on Day 7 of the Para-table tennis, including claiming a gold medal in the Women’s Singles (WS10).
Qian Yang successfully defended her Paralympic women’s singles crown with a commanding 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 12-10) performance over Poland’s legendary player Natalia Partyka on Wednesday.
Yang skipped out to a two-game lead and was always in control of the match, overcoming a small fightback in the second and third, where she entertained the crowd by turning defence into attack.
Yang said through an interpreter that her “concentration” got her through, and she was “very happy”.
This is the second gold medal for Yang at the Paris Games after teaming up with Lina Lei to win the women’s doubles (WD20) against Chinese Taipei on Saturday.
Yang’s collection of Paralympic medals now stands at eight, after claiming a gold and silver for Australia in Tokyo, and three silver medals and a gold for China before making the switch to represent Australia.
The match at South Paris Arena is the latest instalment in a growing rivalry between World Table Tennis’ top two ranked players in their class.
Yang – the current world number one – beat Partyka at the 2022 world championships and ended her long running hold of Paralympic gold medals in the semi-finals in Tokyo.
Since making her debut at the Sydney 2000 Games at the age of 11, seven-time Paralympian Partyka has won four Paralympic gold medals in the women’s singles between 2004 and 2016.
Her list of achievements also includes competing at the Olympic Games in Beijing, London, Rio and Tokyo.
Yang made it to the final by beating Brazilian Bruna Alexandre yesterday, who is also a Olympic-Paralympic representative.
Australia is also guaranteed at least two more medals in table tennis with Lin Ma beating Joshua Stacey of Great Britain 3-0 in the quarter-final to progress to the semi-finals of the men’s singles MS9 on Saturday.
Ma, who won silver in Tokyo, will face not only Frenchman Lucas Didier, but also a raucous home crowd, which was sent into raptures when the local beat Spaniard Jorge Cardona 3-1 in the quarter-final.
Making his first appearance in Paris, Samuel Von Einem, accounted for Japan’s Takeshi Takemori in three close games to reach the semi-final stage of his class (MS11).
“It’s always hard to get through the first one – I’m really happy with the result,” Von Einem said.
Von Einem will next play Gi Tae Kim from the Republic of Korea tomorrow.
Winners of the semi-finals in the table tennis competition go on to compete in the gold medal match, while those defeated automatically win bronze.
RESULTS
Women’s Singles (WS10) F: AUS YANG Qian def POL PARTYKA Natalia 11-6, 11-9, 12-10
Men’s Singles (MS9) QF: AUS MA Lin def GBR STACEY Joshua, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9
Men’s Singles (MS11) QF: AUS VON EINEM Samuel def JPN TAKEMORI Takeshi 11-8, 12-10, 12-10
Watch the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games on the 9Network and 9Now live and free, and on Stan Sport till 8 September.
By: Laurie Lawira, Paralympics Australia
Published: 4 September 2024
