Successful start to team event for GB

The GB team made a winning start to the team events at the Slovakia Open today.

Rob Davies and Paul Davies started their first team competition together for two years with a hard-fought win against Brazil/Hungary. After losing the doubles 1-3 Rob Davies looked to be in trouble against the Brazilian Aloisio Lima Junior at 0-1, 5-9 but came back to win 3-1 and Paul Davies used all his battling qualities to defeat Endre Major 11-5 in the fifth.

In women’s class 4 Sue Gilroy and Alena Kanova from Slovakia had to fight hard to beat the German/Dutch combination of Sandra Mikolaschek and Femke Cobben in the doubles 11-4 in the 5th. Gilroy then lost to World number four Mikolaschek 1-3 but a 3-0 win for Kanova against Cobben gave the British/Slovakian team a 2-1 win.

Jack Hunter-Spivey and men’s class 5 Paralympic champion Tommy Urhaug from Norway took on the Czech Republic and combined to win the doubles 3-0 before Urhaug beat Rene Taus 3-0 to give his team a 2-0 win.

In men’s class 6 David Wetherill and Alberto Seoane from Spain began with a 2-0 win against France/Ireland, combining to win the doubles 3-0 before Seoane beat Bastien Grundeler 3-0.

Aaron McKibbin and Billy Shilton began their men’s class 8 competition with a 2-0 win against a combined team of Australia and Thailand. After a 3-0 win in the doubles McKibbin beat the Australian Barak Mizrachi 3-0 in the first singles to secure the win.

Men’s class 10 is being played in a round-robin format and Kim Daybell and Ashley Facey Thompson started with a 2-0 win against a combined team from Austria, Chile and Kazakstan. The GB pair beat the Austrian Krisztian Gardos and Valentin Rene Letelier Mendoza from Chile in the doubles 3-1 and Daybell won the tie with a 3-0 win against Makhanbet Nassikhan from Kazakstan.