MADRID, 11 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish delegation of the ITTF Costa Brava Spanish Para Open 2023 has added two golds and one silver this Saturday in the doubles events of the international event, managing to reach ten medals for the national team in the championship that has been held this week in the Catalan town of Platja D’Aro.
Thus, the young Ander Cepas hung his second gold medal, together with his teammate Jorge Cardona. The Spanish pair barely suffered on their way to the final, with comfortable victories, and they managed to stay focused when the first complications arrived. In the final, against the French Bouvais/Boheas, they found solutions and won 3-2 (10-12, 11-5, 7-11, 11-2 and 11-6).
In addition, Cepas touched the gold triplet in Platja D’Aro, but was left at the gates along with Olaia Martínez in the mixed doubles. The Spanish couple took the silver medal, losing only to Brazilians Bruna Alexandre and Paulo Fonseca in the 3-1 final.
In another agonizing final, which closed this championship, Iker Sastre and Miguel Ángel Toledo achieved the last Spanish medal against the Koreans Jun Lee and Sung Joao Park by a tight 3-2. The Spanish took the lead 11-9 in the first set, and were surprised by the reaction of the Koreans, who took the second and third games (7-11, 8-11).
However, the faith and perseverance of the Spaniards made them stay in the game to, in the ninth advantage of the fourth round (19-17), equalize the game and opt to win the gold. The victory went to Sastre and Toledo by 11-7 in the last round.
The other seven Spanish medals followed one another in the individual events. Ander Cepas achieved a new gold, which adds to his record in Platja D’Aro, where he had already won another two (2023 and 2021) and a silver (2022). For his part, Jorge Cardona was silver in class 9; and the bronzes went to Pilar González in female class 6-7, Alberto Seoane and Álvaro Valera in class 6, Alejandro Díaz in class 8 and José Manuel Ruiz in class 10.