In a morning marked by three French defeats in the quarter-finals, Lucas Didier saved his honour and secured a medal, to imitate his brother Ugo in para-swimming.
At the Arena Paris Sud
And fortunately Lucas Didier put a little (a lot) of balm in the hearts of the French clan, and of its supporters present in large numbers at the Arena Paris Sud on this Wednesday morning which had seen the first three French representatives bow out in the quarter-final stage. Just before the medal, therefore. But the 21-year-old table tennis player has, himself, achieved his dream of getting on the podium, like his brother Ugo Didier, Paralympic champion of the 400m freestyle at these Games in Paris. It remains to be seen what metal his medal will be, dearly acquired at the end of a very disputed quarter-final against the Spaniard Jorge Cardona, eliminated in four sets (11-7, 7-11, 11-6, 11-8).
Shortly after noon this Wednesday, the crowd at the Arena Paris Sud fell silent for a few moments. Out of sadness. At table number 2, in the quarter-finals of the WS4 category, the crowd’s darling – Flora Vautier – had just logically lost to the German Sandra Mikolaschek. Not without putting up a good fight, with two set points missed in her favour in the second set (7-11, 11-13, 10-12). This quarter-final thus marks the confirmation of the enormous potential of this young 19-year-old player, who has taken on a new dimension during these Paralympic Games with her bronze medal in mixed doubles alongside Florian Merrien.
Also readParalympic Games: “I’m already ready for Los Angeles” smiles the revelation Flora Vautier
“I just got fucked up”
The day had already not started very well with the surprise elimination of Maxime Thomas against the Nigerian Isau Ogunkunle. Winner of the first set (11-9), the native of Nancy then lost the thread against an opponent playing much better than his world ranking would have suggested. Very solid, he made few errors and imposed the pace in the exchanges against a French player suddenly overwhelmed, and eliminated in four sets (11-9, 5-11, 9-11, 6-11). Maxime Thomas will therefore not win a sixth Paralympic medal, which would have been his third in a row in singles after the bronze brought back from Rio and Tokyo.
Just after, more logically, Morgen Caillaud could not do much against the Iraqi Najlah Al-Dayyeni, as the young 22-year-old table tennis player confided just after her elimination. “I don’t really have any regrets because I just got beaten. It’s not like it was close. As soon as I tried to move a little bit further, she would hit behind and it was very difficult. It was the 5th time I played her and I only beat her once, that’s how it is. Now, I still won two matches at these Games, in an incredible atmosphere, so it will remain a very good memory. It makes you want to continue until Los Angeles.” A clear defeat in three sets (4-11, 6-11, 2-11) for the Tourangelle.
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