Didukh had picked up gold in the singles class nine event earlier in the week and continued his incredible form to topple the Paramypic champion and lead Ukraine to a 3-2 victory over the Poles.

"This is the best victory in my life," he said.

"I knew Patryk very well when we were both playing in able-bodied play.

"I played fantastic just now but I think Patryk was not playing with his full power, maybe only 50 per cent.

"He seemed not very focused, otherwise it would be very hard for me to play against him; I want a medal in team events."

The win ensured Ukraine topped the group, although Poland also progressed to the next round as they finished second.

China remain favourites to take the class nine-10 title as they take a bye in the next round, along with Indonesia, while Spain and Russia join Ukraine and Poland in the opening knockout fixtures.

As matters progressed in the men's team event, top seeded outfits continued to shine across all classifications.

One surprise came in class eight where Poland finished ahead of second seeds Hungary to avoid a semi-final encounter with favourites China.

The Poles will take on Belgium in their semi-final, with the Belgians doing well to overthrow France for the second qualification spot in the group.

Poland avoided a tough semi-final encounter with China by recording a shock win to top their group in class eight ©ITTF



In class six-seven, Great Britain have progressed to the semi-final where they will face Ukraine while China take on Spain in the other match.

China and Turkey gain byes to the semi-finals in class five with Argentina due to take on France and Germany up against South Korea for a place alongside the favourites in that division.

Class three has South Korea up against Germany and Austria taking on China for a spot in the final, while classes one and two will be decided tomorrow with a simple round robin ranking.

In the women's competition, Brazil recorded a strong 3-1 victory over Russia to book a spot in the semi-finals of the class nine-10 contest, where they will face Poland.

Favourites China will do battle with Turkey in the other semi-final with the hosts strongly backed to secure the title.

One gold medal was awarded, in the women's class five where Serbia added a third 3-0 victory to take the title ahead of Chinese Taipei and Thailand.

There was a major upset in the class one-three contest where South Korea topped their group, despite being ranked below each of their three group opponents.

The win ensures they will avoid the tough task of taking on favourites China in the semi-final, instead finding themselves in an encounter with Turkey.

Second-seeds Croatia will, therefore, take on China in the second semi-final.

The team events continue on tomorrow with proceedings due to conclude on Sunday (August 14).

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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