(by Steve Hopkins)
Tahl Leibovitz, Jenson Van Emburgh, and Ahad Bakhshaei Sarand represented the US at the ITTF Montenegro Para Championships in Podgorica, the Capital City of Montenegro. There were no gold medals for TeamUSA, but all three Americans had success in their respective events last week.
The Singles Events have already concluded. In Men’s Singles Class 9, Tahl Leibovitz defeated China’s Fan Yufei 3-1 in the Quarterfinals before falling to eventual event winner Koyo Iwabuchi of Japan 3-2 in the Semifinals. Tahl finished with the Bronze medal. On Koyo’s path to winning the event, he only lost 2 games, defeating every opponent 3-0 except for the 3-2 match with Tahl.
Jenson also secured a bronze medal. He defeated Sylvain Noel of France in the Quarterfinals before losing to China’s Feng Panfeng. Feng went on to win the event, so like Tahl – Jenson’s only loss was to the event’s champion.
In Men’s Doubles Class MD8, Ahad and Jenson are through to the Quarterfinals. They will face one of the top seeds on Sunday morning, the Chinese pair of Cao Ningning and Feng Panfeng. The winners will move into the Semifinals which will be played Sunday afternoon. Tahl is in a similar position, waiting for tomorrow to face off against a pair from Montenegro (Bakic and Gugolj). Tahl’s partner is Juan Bautista Perez Gonzalez of Spain – together Tahl and Juan are the top seeds.
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