Perry takes team silver to finish PTT Costa Brava Open in style

Martin Perry and Ryan Henry rounded out the PTT Costa Brava Open in impressive fashion as they secured silver and bronze respectively in the men’s team events.

Perry had already won bronze in the singles in Platja D’Aro and sealed further success for the British Para Table Tennis team alongside American partner Ian Seidenfeld.

In the men’s class 6 team event, the British-American duo beat Greece and Spain before going down 2-1 to the Italian-Korean combination of Matteo Parenzan and Se Ho Lee – with Perry losing his singles match to Lee 3-1.

But they bounced back in style to beat Japan 2-0 in their final round robin match – 24-year-old Scot Perry sealing the victory by downing Kazuki Shichino 3-1 – to leave Spain with a silver medal.

Perry said: “Ian is a highly ranked player for a reason and I think it showed especially in doubles – he played some great shots.”

In the men’s class 8 team event, Henry teamed up with Dutchman Roy van der Burg and the pair battled their way to a well-deserved bronze medal.

They reached the semi-finals with a 2-0 win against Korea/Japan, having earlier suffered a 2-0 defeat to the experienced Belgian-Italian combination of Marc Ledoux and Samuel De Chiara.

Facing the Dutch pair Andrianus van Amerongen and Devin Wassink in the semi-finals, Henry and Van der Burg lost the doubles before Van der Burg sent it to a decider by beating Van Amerongen 3-1.

That gave 18-year-old Henry the chance to put the British-Dutch duo into the final but Wassink ultimately proved too strong as he prevailed 3-1, although the teenager was content to leave with a medal.

“I’m happy with how I played throughout the tournament and pleased to win bronze,” said Henry. “I had chances to win my last match and my opponent played very well.

“I feel I’ve learnt a lot from the last few days and know what I need to work on to achieve more in the future.”

The final-day double success means the British Para Table Tennis team head home with four medals from the PTT Costa Brava Open after Perry and Jack Stockdale won singles bronzes earlier in the week.

Photo credit: British Para Table Tennis