The Spanish delegation has closed the individual phase of the European Table Tennis Championship for people with disabilitiesheld in the Swedish town of Helsingborg, with a balance of four medals. Ander Cepas and Eder RodrÃguez reached the final in their respective classes, adding two silvers, while Olaia MartÃnez and Gonzalo RodrÃguez achieved two bronzes. Once the individual phase is over, the competition continues with the dispute of the doubles events, where the Spanish national team maintains options to expand its medal table.
In Class 9, Ander Cepas He once again placed himself among the best paddlers on the continent. The Basque player entered the final after beating the Ukrainian Lev Kats 3–1 (11–5, 11–4, 8–11, 11–9). In the title match, they faced Belgian Laurens Devos, current Paralympic champion in Tokyo and Paris, against whom he lost 1–3 (11–8, 8–11, 11–13, 7–11). Cepas thus added a new medal in a major international event, consolidating his status as one of the best on the international scene.
Following in the footsteps of Cepas, Eder RodrÃguez signed an outstanding championship in Class 3. After beating the Frenchman Florian Merrien in the quarterfinals and the German Thomas Bruechle in the semifinals in a tight 3-2 (4-11, 11-13, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10), reached a continental final for the first time. In the gold medal match, he faced the German Thomas Schmidberger, to whom he lost 0–3. (7–11, 3–11, 5–11). RodrÃguez thus obtained his first medal in an absolute European competition, a result that crowns a sporting process marked by resilience and positions himself for future top-level international competitions.
In Women's Class 8, Olaia MartÃnez achieved a medal of great historical relevance. She beat the Danish Freja Juhl Larsen (3-0) in the quarterfinals and she fell in the semifinals to Britain's Grace Williams (0–3), securing bronze. It is about the first medal for a Spanish player in an absolute European Championship since 1995when MarÃa Cinta Campiña achieved bronze in Hillerød (Denmark). Olaia, a member of the Verallia Paralympic Promises Team, signed an international consolidation championship and confirmed that it is a bet for the future.
Gonzalo RodrÃguez, also from the Promesas Verallia team, obtained the fourth medal for Spain in Class 7. After beating the Norwegian Krizander Magnussen (3-2) in the quarterfinals, lost in the semifinals against the Swede Jonas Hansson by 1–3 (12–14, 2–11, 11–5, 9–11). With this result, he achieves his first medal in an absolute European Championship, and contributes the second metal to the young Paralympic talent program in this edition.
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The individual tournament phase is oversince yesterday the doubles competition has been underway, where Spain has representatives in different classes. And there he also hopes to get on the podium again, confirming his role as a reference at the international level.
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