South Korea enjoyed a good day on the tables on Friday (15 February) as table tennis competitions at the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) World Games 2019 concluded in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

Medals were also won in four other sports on the penultimate day of competition.

Full results can be found at the IWAS website.

Table tennis

The last day of table tennis saw team events take centre stage.

South Korea picked up four of the five golds on offer, including one from a pairing with an athlete from Cyprus.

In the women’s team class 5 Cha-Soo Kang, Ta Young Song and Jang Sub Choi won both of their matches to top the podium. Thailand’s Teeradech Klangmanee, Kamon Syajan and Norakan Chanpahaka finished second followed by teammates Wassana Srongam and Panwas Sringam who were playing in a second Thai team.

The men’s class 3-4 featured another victory for South Korea over Thailand.

Gu-Young Song, Ki-Young Jun and Myeong-Wook Ko also went unbeaten on their way to gold.

Thailand’s Yuttajak Glinbanchuen, Thirayu Chueawong and Busree Wawaeni got the silver. Kazakshtan’s Yerlan Kaziyev and Kenges secured bronze after beating hosts the UAE.

South Korea’s Sun Gil Kim teamed up with Cyprus’ Kailis Panteleimon to claim the title in the men’s class 6-8. Silver went to Kazakhstan’s Kanat Ussenov and Rustam Valitov.

Byung Jun Song, Hae-Kon Lee and Myung Yun Ko were the victors in the men’s class 1-2 competition. Kazakhstan’s Georgiy Chetverikov, Duisengali Ospanov and Bereket Akzhigitov claimed silver.

Kazakhstan broke the South Korean dominance by winning gold in the men’s class 9-10. Nuurzhan Korpetayev and Ali Makhulbekov won both their matches, including against South Korea’s Yeonghwan Kim and Jae Suk Lee who took silver.

The UAE’s Yousuf Alkaabi and Mohamed Jafari won bronze.

Wheelchair fencing

Germany’s Felix Schrader won his first world title in the men’s foil under 17.

He beat Great Britain’s Joshua Waddell 15-12.

Schrader’s teammate Clemens Cursiefen and Hong Kong’s Sean Glass were the bronze medallists.

However in the afternoon, Waddell managed to gather himself and won the epee under 17 against Schrader.

Hong Kong picked up another medal with bronze courtesy of Long Ho Chow. Estonia’s Dmitry Krassikov also took bronze.

Athletics

A high quality field lined-up in the men’s 400m T54.

Germany’s triple Paralympian Alhassane Balde (51.20 seconds) claimed the gold.

Two-time Paralympian Alexandre Dupont (51.76) of Canada was just edged into silver by Balde. Teammate Christoph Isaiah (53.15) was third.

The women’s discus F56/F57 was won by Algeria’s Nadia Medjmedj with a third round throw that gave her 1,034 points. She was joined on the podium by compatriot Saifi Nassima (31.95m, 996 points) and Germany’s Martina Willing (20.23m, 856 points).

In the women’s shot put F37/F38/F44/F46 South Africa’s Simone Kruger (843 points) was victorious with a 9.79m effort.

The Czech Republic’s Eva Datinska (828 points) claimed silver followed by the UAE’s Mariam Matroushi (823 points) with bronze.

Latvia’s Dmitrijs Silovs (11.93m, 634 points) topped the podium in the men’s shot put F35/F36/F37/F38. The UAE’s Mohammed Al Kaabi (11.49m, 633 points) was second ahead of Silovs’ teammate Edgars Bergs (12.24m, 627 points).

Croatia’s European champion Matija Sloup achieved a golden throw on his opening attempt in the men’s shot put F40/F41. A best of 9.68 (824 points) saw him claim the victory in front of compatriot Vladimir Gaspar (8,14m, 221 points). India’s Manoj Singaraja (7.88m, 182 points) was third.

Swimming

Estonia’s Matz Topkin and Kardo Ploompiu doubled-up on golds on Friday with victories from the men’s 50m backstroke and freestyle.

Topkin, an S4 swimmer, led the field in the backstroke with 747 points. Thailand’s Phuchit Aingcayaphum (446 points) was second with teammate Eakapan Songwichean (435 points).

In the 50m freestyle Topkin was once again the victor (645 points) ahead of Aingcayaphum (613 points). This time is was India’s Suyash Narayan Jadhav (527 points) who claimed bronze.

Ploompiu, who swims in the S10 classification and has competed at four Paralympic Games, matched his compatriot’s success in the same events.

In the 50m freestyle Ploompiu reached 565 points for gold. Thailand’s Patchara Singhmanon grabbed silver and India’s Swapnil Sanjay Patil took bronze.

It was the same result in the 50m backstroke but Ploompiu was joined on the podium by compatriot Tanel Tahevali who secured bronze.

The 2019 IWAS World Games continue until 16 February. More than 500 athletes from 50 countries are competing in seven sports across three venues.