Ukraine’s Oleksandr Chyrkov edged out Spain’s Simon Cruz Mondejar in a three-game thriller in their final group match at the VYV BWF European Para-Badminton Championships 2018 in Rodez, France yesterday.
Fifth seed Mondejar had a match point against Chyrkov, but the Ukrainian wriggled out of the tight situation and emerged triumphant at 21-15 19-21 22-20 to top Group F in the Men’s Singles Standing Lower (SL 3) category. Chyrkov finished with three wins out of three matches, relinquishing Mondejar to second place in the group.
Both however made it to the knock-out round, where Chyrkov faces Scotland’s Alan Oliver and Mondejar takes on Belgium’s Bob Biesmans.
Top seed Daniel Bethell (England), second seed Pascal Wolter, and 3-4 seeds Mathieu Thomas (France) and Colin Leslie (Scotland) got byes into the quarterfinals.
In the Women’s Singles Wheelchair (WH 2) category, Spain’s Esther Torres upset third seed Fiona Christie (Scotland) in their final Group C match, 21-19 21-8, to top the group. Interestingly, they will face off once again in the quarter-finals today. Spain’s Marcela Quinteros and France’s Emmanuelle Ott clash in the other quarterfinal, while top seed Emine Seckin and second seed Narine Uluc (both Turkey) got byes to the semifinals.
In the Women’s Singles Standing Upper (SU 5) category, Portugal’s Beatriz Monteiro outclassed Ukraine’s Ivanna Redka in just 19 minutes, 21-11 21-9, while Netherlands’ Megan Hollander (featured image) overcame a difficult challenge from Denmark’s Julie Thrane in the opening game to win 25-23 21-13.
The Men’s Singles contests in the same class saw top seed Bartlomiej Mroz (Poland) and second seed Ilker Tuzcu (Turkey) record easy wins over Spain’s Pablo Serrano and France’s Florian Cantais respectively. The two combined for the Men’s Doubles, winning their opening Group A match over Turkey’s Burak May/Sedat Tuemkaya 21-9 21-15.
Four players from England qualified to the quarterfinals in the Men’s Singles Short Stature (SS 6) category – top seed Jack Shephard, second seed Krysten Coombs, Andrew Martin and Isaak Dalglish. The two non-England players – Ireland’s Andrew Moorcroft and France’s Fabien Morat – will face each other in the second quarter.
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