Site Products
2022 ITTF Para Spanish Open by Antonio Alvarez

2022 ITTF Para Spanish Open: Van Emburgh wins gold, Sarand upsets the odds to win silver

(By Vlad Farcas, Photo courtesy of Antonio Alvarez)

Between March 24th and 26th, US players competed at the 2022 ITTF Para Spanish Open in Platja d’Oro, Girona, Spain. The 7 players that competed where: Jenson Van Emburgh, Zachary Wentz (Men’s Class 3), Zachary Pickett, Ahad Sarand (Men’s Class 5) Samuel Altshuler (Men’s Class 6) Marko Makkar (Men’s Class 8) and Raymond Sacco (Men’s Class 11) alongside coach Vlad Farcas.
Jenson Van Emburgh was the top seed of the Men’s Class 3 Singles event. Jenson had a stellar performance and won the event without dropping a single game throughout the entire Singles Tournament. He had few noticeable wins against: Petr Svatos (Czech Republic) -group stage; Collin Judge (Irleand)- semifinals and Nalepka (Poland) – final.
Ahad Sarand, started the Men’s Singles class 5 as the #6 seed and met in the group stage seed #1 and World Ranked #9 Kim (Korea). Ahad, had one of the best performances of his career and upset the odds by beating the Korean player in 4 sets to take the #1 seed spot on the main draw. Furthermore, he met in Semifinals, the Belgian player World Ranked #13, Brands (Belgium). Sarand beat the odds again and won 3 games to 1 after a very close match. In the Final, Ahad fell to Swedish player Olssen score 3 to 1.
Pickett, Wentz, and Altshuler, all part of the US Para Developmental Team made their debut on international stage all falling in the group stage but showing great potential to improve. Their participation to such a big event helped them understand different parts of the game that they must work on to improve. Their goal is to follow the footsteps of the more experienced American Para players.
For Makkar and Sacco, the draws weren’t as friendly as they met top world players, but they represented US Table Tennis very well and we are so proud of them.

GOLD IN DOUBLES
The 2022 Spanish Open was the first event that replaced the traditional Teams Event with Doubles and Mixed Doubles event, this format being the new Paralympic Format that will be introduced in all major events including Paris 2024 Paralympics.
Ahad Sarand and Jenson Van Emburgh, made a great team to win gold in Men’s Wheelchair Class 8. They’ve won the semifinal match score 3-1 against Polish team and 3-0 in the Finals against the mixed association team composed by France and Croatia.

2022 ITTF Para Spanish Open by Antonio Alvarez 2022 ITTF Para Spanish Open by Antonio Alvarez 2022 ITTF Para Spanish Open by Antonio Alvarez

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.

Latest News

Top players in MLTT after Week 3

October 16, 2025
(by: Major League Table Tennis) [caption id="attachment_270373" align="alignnone" width="366"] MLTT WEEK 3 PLAYER POWER RANKINGS[/caption] Major League Table… Read More

China Wins Asian Championships

October 15, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo ITTF) Team China won the ITTF-ATTU 28th Asian Table Tennis Team Championships.  That headline… Read More

Pan Am Championships: Calderano and Diaz Win Singles Titles

October 15, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT) Hugo Calderano topped Kanak Jha in the Men’s Final and Adriana Diaz’s upset… Read More

Pan Am Championships: Early Action

October 14, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT) Singles started on Sunday, with top seeds in action on Monday. at the… Read More

Laurent Jutras Vigneault – Forehand Opening Loop from underspin

October 14, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Laurent Jutras Vigneault is working on his opening loop from… Read More

Zyre 03: Redefining Power and Spin in Modern Table Tennis

October 13, 2025
(By Edgardo Vazquez/Bowmar Sports) In top-level table tennis, every detail counts. The choice of rubber can be the… Read More

Tip of the Week – Your Evolving Relationship With a Coach

October 13, 2025
By Larry Hodges, Member of US Table Tennis Hall of Fame When you start out, the coach is… Read More

Rogelio Castro – Short Push vs Long Push

October 13, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Rogelio Castro is executing a touch drill that consist of… Read More
View All News

Get the latest from Butterfly

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.