A major turn of events for players at ITTF Slovenia Para Open

The International Table Tennis Federation kicked off the 17th edition of the Slovenia Para Open after a three-year gap due to the Covid-19 pandemic in Lasko, Slovenia. Overall, 226 players participated in the men's singles, and over 100 players competed in the women's singles, representing 39 countries.

In his first international tournament since taking two silver medals at the Tokyo Paralympic Games last year Will Bayley marked his return by winning the men’s class 7 singles title at the Slovenia Para Open in Lasko.

The competition began with Kim Hyeonuk from Korea Republic, Fabien Lamirault from France, and Thomas Schmidberger securing semi-final spots in the men's singles. Abdullah Ozturk from Turkey and Valentin Baus from Germany also advanced to the semi-finals. In the women's singles, Giada Rossi from Italy, Ingela Lundback from Sweden, and Maryna Lytovchenko from Ukraine reserved their semi-final berths a day earlier.

By the end of day 3, a total of 39 titles were contested. China's Zhang Bian and Zhou Ying emerged as the most successful players in the competition, with both winning gold medals in their respective classes in the women's singles. They also went on to win the gold medal in the women's doubles class 10. Their performance at the games reflected their performances at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2020, where both won gold medals.

The tournament witnessed a surprise result in the women's singles class 6, where Germany's Stephanie Grebe defeated Ukraine's Maryna Lytovchenko, who had previously won gold at the 2018 and 2022 World Para Championships, as well as at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2020. Grebe ended Lytovchenko's winning streak with a 12-10, 4-11, 6-11, 11-8 victory.

In the men's singles, Polish player Maciej Makajew in class 11 claimed the top spot after defeating Japan's Takeshi Takemori, the 29014 Asian Games champion, in a dominant 5-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-2 win. Makajew's victory was unexpected as his only prior international experience was in Greece, which occurred just two weeks before the Slovenia Open.

The games were filled with surprises and upsets. Germany's Thomas Schmidberger, who was crowned World champion last year in Andalucia, experienced a quarter-final defeat against Thailand's Yuttajak Glinbanchuen, and the event was ultimately won by China's Feng Panfeng, a gold medallist at the four most recent Paralympic Games. Similarly, in the women's singles, there were disappointments for reigning World champions.

In class 2, Italy's Giada Rossi was defeated in the final by Korea Republic's Seo Suyeon, who seemed to be in the form of her life. Seo Suyeon, the 2018 World champion, won the match with a close score of 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 12-10. In the semi-final stage, Seo Suyeon had beaten China's Liu Jing, a gold medalist at every Paralympic Games since 2008 in Beijing. In class 7, Kubra Korkut finished in fourth place in a group organized event behind China's Wang Rui, Korea Republic's Kim Seongok, and Sweden's Smilla Sand. Alexa Szvitacs experienced a class 9 semi-final defeat at the hands of Poland's Karolina Pek, with an 11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 11-9 loss.

Although former world champions like Germany’s Valentin Baus, Belgium’s Lauren Devos , United Kingdom’s Will Bayley and the former Paralympic gold medallist, Turkey’s Abdullah Ozturk were successful in bagging gold in their respective class.

The play concluded on 13th May with players looking to make an impact in the upcoming Polish Para Open which commences on 26th of May.