Australia’s Lina Lei has moved a step closer to defending her Paralympic women’s singles (WS9) gold medal, beating Turkish Neslihan Kavas in the quarter final stage of the Paris tournament.
Lei – who currently sits top of her classification in the world rankings – comfortably won 3-0 in 17 minutes to progress.
“I think my tactics were very good today,” she said.
Meeting her to play for a spot in the gold medal match on Saturday will be Guiyan Xiong from China who also had a straight games win, beating Ukrainian Iryna Shynkarova in the quarter finals.
“I’m going to do my best and play point by point,” Lei said.
Lei has already won a gold medal in Paris, teaming up with Qian Yang in the women’s doubles (WD20).
It’s one of three medals Australia has won in table tennis so far in Paris. Yang went on to claim gold in the women’s singles (WS10), while Sam Von Einem took out bronze in the men’s singles (MS11).
More table tennis medals for Australia are guaranteed on the final day of competition. Along with Lei, Lin Ma (MS9) is in the semi final where he will play Frenchman Lucas Didier for a spot in the gold medal match.
Under the competition format, those defeated in the semi final win the bronze medal.
RESULT
Women’s Singles (WS9) QF AUS LEI Lina def TUR KAVAS Neslihan, 11-6, 11-6, 11-6.
By: Laurie Lawira, Paralympics Australia
Published: 6 September 2024
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