(by Steve Hopkins, photo by USA Table Tennis)
While the US Nationals took place in Fort Worth, the ITTF US Para Open was held in the same arena. A week ago, we provided results that highlighted three of the most recognized U.S. Para athletes – Jenson Van Emburgh, Ian Seidenfeld, and Tahl Leibovitz.
This article will more fully list all American medalists from the ITTF US Para Open in Fort Worth.
Men’s Class 3. Jenson Van Emburgh dominated Men’s Singles Class 3. He won his group with a 3-1 win over Nigeria’s Koleosho and a 3-0 win over Canada’s Asad Murtaza. He then went on to win the knock out matches 3-0 over France’s Adjal, and 3-0 over France’s Geuljans to claim the Gold Medal.
Men’s Class 5. Ahad Sarand finished with Bronze in the Class 5 Singles. He fell to two British players (Heaps and Hunter), but topped top seeded Bjarkason and teammate Vallabhapurapu.
Men’s Class 6. Ian Seidenfeld logged three wins in his Class 6 group (3-1 over Matias Pino Lorca, 3-0 over Justin Kim, and 3-0 over Tristan Myrick) and in the knock outs he defeated Canada’s Seguin and Chile’s Torres Orostica to take the Gold Medal.
Men’s Class 8. USA’s Marco Makkar won a Bronze Medal in Class 8 Singles, losing to Great Britain’s Ross Wilson who went on to win the event.
Men’s Class 9. Tahl Leibovitz defeated Logan Watson in an all US Class 9 Singles Final – securing both Gold and Silver for TeamUSA.
Men’s Class 10. Randall Medcalf secured a Bronze Medal in Class 10. Medcalf lost to England’s Maximillian Flint in the Semifinals.
Women’s Classes 1-5. Pam Fontaine finished with a Bronze in Women’s Singles Classes 1-5. She lost in the Semifinal to Tamara Leonelli Leonelli of Chile.
Women’s Classes 6-8. USA’s Mingyu Zu dominated the group going 4-0. In her four wins, she dropped one game to the top seeded Chilean player Florencia Perez (winning 3-1) and then won all three of her other matches 3-0.
Men’s Doubles MD4. Two American teams finished in second and third in MD4 with Michael Godfrey and Eric Court securing Silver and Louis Molina and James Segrest winning Bronze.
Men’s Doubles MD8. Van Emburgh teamed with Ahad Sarand to win Men’s Doubles Class MD8. It took two 3-2 wins in a row to claim Gold, with the Semifinal win over France and the Finals win over Chile.
Men’s Doubles MD14. Seidenfeld and partner Masoud Mojtahed had to settle for Bronze in Men’s Doubles Class MD14. The US pair lost to Chile’s Pino Lorca and Torres Orostica 3-1.
Men’s Doubles MD18. Leibovitz teamed with Logan Watson to win Men’s Doubles Class MD18. Leibovitz and Watson won three matches on their way to Gold with a win over the English pair of Thakker and Wilson in the Final.
Women’s Doubles WD5-10. Pam Fontaine and Tara Profitt teamed up to take Silver in Doubles Classes WD5-10. They were seeded third, and managed to defeat the top seeded Chilean team before falling 1-3 to Mexico.
Mixed Doubles Xd4-10. Van Emburgh and Pam Fontaine landed a Bronze in Mixed Doubles Classes XD4-10. The American pairing lost to Mexicans Reyes Turcio and Sigala Lopez.
For a Full Listing of detailed results, visit the ITTF’s Results page.
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