Disability Sport Wales
Chwaraeon Anabledd Cymru
The Federation of Disability Sport Wales (FDSW) is a pan-disability National Governing Body of Sport Which aims to promote and develop quality sports opportunities
BRONZE BLESSING FOR HEAD AND KARABARDAK
The Welsh Table Tennis players returned from the World Championships in Italy bringing home with them a hand full of bronze medals.
The Italian venue hosted the likes of single, open and team performances from 29-year-old and Beddau born Sara Head, Paralympians Clare and Scott Robertson, from Flintshire, 24-year-old Rob Davies, from Brecon, Paul Karabardak from Swansea and 43-year-old Paul Davies from Bridgend.
Sara Head fought a hard battle into the quarter finals alongside team mate Jane Campbell in the doubles event. The quarter finals saw Sara and Jane paste rivals Turkey 3-0 and progress to the Semi’s with either bronze or gold in sight.
The semi-finals were always going to be a tough test, where Head and Campbell were drawn up against the home country favourites Italy. The duo blasted the Italians in the first game going ahead one game to nil. They then continued playing well pushing the Italians to a 2-2 draw. In the deciding game the Welsh and English duo struggled against the crowd and Italian technique losing the final match against them by only 2 points.
Sara commented on her disappointment with the result,
“Losing by only two points we could taste the opportunity of being finalists for the 1st time in a major event. It was a close contest, so when we lost it was devastating and had to dig deep and stay positive to go on and win the bronze.
The following day, Head and Campbell took to the table for a final time where they were playing for the bronze medal. The Slovakian’s looked in good form, but the duo had kept the belief that a medal would be theirs even after the events of the day before. They went on to win 3-2 and came away from the competition with some hard earned ranking points.
Sara said,
“We were extremely pleased that we managed to pick ourselves back up after the disappointment of day one. The support from GB teammates really jeered us on against Slovakia.”
In the singles event Sara qualified top of the group but lost to Dutch opposition in the in last twelve. In the Open class, Sara beat the Italian and French opposition, going on to be gracefully defeated by class four Paralympic gold medallist Peric.
Paralympian and Welsh Team mate, Paul Karabardak had success in his class seven event by first winning his heat and followed on to beat Lambert from Czech Republic 3-0 in the Quarter finals. In the Semi’s Paul lost to German, Wollmert.
Paul went on to challenge fellow GB teammate Will Bailey for the bronze medal. Paul swiftly put Will out of the competition winning 3-0. Paul brought home a well deserved bronze medal and reached a personal target, winning his first ever medal in a major singles event.
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