MADRID, 8 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish couple formed by Iker Sastre and Miguel Ángel Toledo was proclaimed this Tuesday runner-up in the world of the MD4 class of the doubles modality of the Paralympic Table Tennis World Championships that are being held in Granada until next Saturday when falling in the final against the South Koreans Jin Cheol Park and Soo Yong Cha 3-2 (11-6, 10-12, 9-11, 11-5 and 11-7).
The Basque and the Madrilenian were close to crowning their great tournament with a sensational gold, but the powerful Asian couple crossed their path, current Paralympic team champions of class 2 and with Park and Cha as the current numbers 3 and 4 of the world ranking.
Even so, Sastre and Toledo dreamed of surprising their rivals, who had beaten them in the quarterfinals of the team competition in the Japanese capital, although they had been pushed to the maximum in the doubles.
And in the Palacio de los Deportes they did it again during the 52 minutes that the final lasted, although the South Koreans were very firm in the last two games as they had done in the first, in which they dominated with some authority (11-6 ).
However, Sastre and Toledo knew how to react and had nerves of steel when they found themselves down 10-9 in the second. Three points in a row allowed them to come from behind and balance a final that leaned their way after an even better comeback in the third game to lift a 9-6 deficit.
But from there, Park, individual bronze in Tokyo, raised his level a lot and complicated things for the Spanish couple who could not help but clearly lose the fourth game (11-5). In the fifth and final, the Asians did not let up and although Sastre and Toledo arrived with options (7-6), the end of their rivals left them without options, but with a valuable silver medal.