By Miharu Araki In the men’s class 7, No. 1 seed Yagi won the come-from-behind victory in the final = Tokyo Gymnasium (photographed by Yoshiharu Uehara)
The international para table tennis tournament “KINOSHITA GROUP ITTF Japan Para Open 2023”, which will be held for the first time in four years, opened at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on the 30th. It is an ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) accredited tournament, and it is a point earning tournament for participating in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, and more than 130 players from 11 countries and regions around the world have entered.
On the 31st, the men’s and women’s singles were held, and in the men’s class 7, the latest world ranking 3rd and 1st seed Katsukatsu Yagi (Ryukyu Astida) advanced through the group league and semi-finals to advance to the finals. He defeated PUNPOO Chalermpong (Thailand) 3-2 (7-11, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10, 11-6) to win the title. In the 4th game, they conceded 3 consecutive points from the scene of 8-7 and 1 point lead, and they were able to grab the championship point first, but they succeeded in reversing with 4 consecutive scores from there. In the final game, when he maintained that momentum and won, he collapsed on the spot, made a guts pose with a roar, and exploded with joy.
Tokyo para is feeling the loss of power. After the tournament, Yagi changed to a more aggressive rubber in anticipation of the Paris tournament, and this season has led to results such as winning the Montenegro Open in May and the Taiwan (Taichung) Open in July. “I will improve the accuracy of my shots and aim to win the Asian Paralympics in October,” he said emphatically.
Class 10 Masahiro Funayama (Waseda University), who made his international para table tennis debut at the 2021 Asian Youth Paralympic Games, won all the group stages and smiled at his first win since the Finnish Open last September. Men’s Class 9 Yukihiro Iwabuchi (Kyowa Kirin) competed against Tokyo Para silver medalist MA Lin (Australia) in the final, but lost 1-3 to finish second.
Masanori Uno (Cosmo Trade and Service) in Men’s Class 2 finished second in wheelchairs, while Kentaro Doi (D2C) and Toru Nakamoto (Domani Table Tennis Club) finished third in Class 5. In Class 3, which has the most entries, Yuichiro Kitagawa (Kansai University of Social Welfare) is the only Japanese player to advance to the final tournament. He made his presence felt in the quarterfinals, even though he missed out on a medal in the quarter-finals, losing to a South Korean player at the end of the full game.
Hazeyama wins a rivalry with Yamaguchi in the women’s mentally handicapped class.
In the women’s class, intellectual class Nanako Hazeyama (Aoba Club) defeated Miya Yamaguchi (Kizuna Sincerite Shiga) 3-2 (6-11, 11-9, 5-11, 16-14, 11-8) in the final. was dropped. Hazeyama, who finished the fierce battle with an opponent who knew each other’s hand, said after the match, “The opponent is strong, so I played with the feeling that I will face it myself. I’m happy that I won the championship.”
Nozomi Nakamura (Hananoi Club), a female class 10 member of the Tokyo Paralympics team, defeated LIN Tzu Yu (Taiwan) in a come-from-behind full game in the group stage to advance to the finals. Although she lost in straight sets to world No. 1 YANG Qian (Australia) in the final, she won a commanding silver medal. She emphasized, “I’m glad I was able to show my guts. I want to strengthen my serve-receiving skills and focus on training her lower body, aiming for the Paris Olympics.” . In class 8-9, Yuri Tomono (Tamadic/Murakami Jr.) finished 3rd. The women’s wheelchair class missed the podium.
Doubles will be held from the third day of the tournament.
(Interview and text by Miharu Araki, photography by Yoshiharu Uehara)
Share this article Author: Miharu Araki MA SPORTS representative, writer
2023-08-31 14:24:24
#table #tennis #JOAs #boy #Yagi #big #comefrombehind #victory #Rising #star #Zhoushan #womens #Hazeyama #win #Sports #site #people #disabilities #SPORTS
