Denislav Kodjabashev won his singles match but Bulgaria were beaten by Austria overall ©ITTF

Bulgaria's Denislav Kodjabashev managed to gain revenge for his exit at the quarter-finals of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games on the opening day of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Para Team World Championships in Bratislava today.

Kodjabashev was beaten in the Brazilian city by Krisztian Gardos of Austria, but managed to overcome him today in their singles rubber 12-10, 11-6, 4-11, 13-11 at the Slovnaft Arena.

However, the victory was unable to propel his team to success after the Bulgarians were beaten 2-1 in the men's team class 10 event. 

Austria's Gardos and Gustav Weisenhofer secured the doubles rubber against Kodjabashev and Yordan Mitev 11-4, 11-7, 11-9. 

In the deciding match, Weisenhofer returned to the court to defeat Mitev 11-8, 11-8, 11-7 to secure an Austrian win.

Russia were forced to come from one match down to beat France.

Matteo Boheas and Benoît Grasser gave the French team the ideal start by securing the doubles rubber against Iurii Nozdrunov and Pavel Lukyanov 12-10, 13-11, 8-11, 4-11, 11-7. 

But the Russians fought back and Nozdrunov overcame Boheas 11-2, 11-6, 11-6 in the first singles match before Lukyanov sealed the victory by beating Grasset 11-6, 11-6, 12-10.

Slovakia's Jan Riapos, pictured, and Martin Ludrvovsky were victorious today ©ITTF
Slovakia's Jan Riapos, pictured, and Martin Ludrvovsky were victorious today ©ITTF

Poland and Spain also recorded victories today and were much more convincing than Russia and Austria. 

Patryk Chojnowski and Igor Misztal teamed up for Poland to beat the Italian combination of Mohamed Amine Kalem and Lorenzo Cordua 2-0.

Spaniards José Manuel Reyes and Jorge Cardona then saw off Japan’s Nariaki Kakita and Naoya Nagashita.

There was a successful start to the competition for the Slovakian duo of Jan Riapos and Martin Ludrvovsky, who finished fourth at Rio 2016, in the class two division.

The duo beat the Serbian pairing of Goran Perlic and Vladan Petkovic without losing a match.

The doubles match was secured in three straight games, 14-12, 11-6, 12-10 before Ludrvovsky overcame Perlic 11-7, 11-3, 11-6 in the first singles match to put the result beyond doubt.

David Wetherill of Great Britain was forced to come from two games down to see his team defeat Slovakia in the class six competition.

He recovered from a two games to nil deficit to beat Gabriel Cseniy 7-11, 5-11, 11-3, 11-6, 12-10.

The win came after Paul Karabardak and Wetherill had suffered a 11-8, 5-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9 doubles defeat against Cseniy and Alexander Nagy.

Karabardak had levelled matters by beating Nagy 11-5, 13-11, 11-9 before Wetherill's heroics saw them to victory.