On the last day of competition at the 4th PPP World Championships in Wels, Thorsten Flues (GER) dominated all three finals almost at will.
After marching through the mixed competition alongside Silke Kind (GER) and through the doubles alongside Thorsten Boomhuis (GER) without losing a game, he only gave up a game in the singles final against the reigning World Champion Ilya Rozenblat (USA). With his three gold medals, he remains unbeaten at World Championships and impressively repeated his three victories from Berlin 2021 with the same partners. Last year, he was unable to compete due to corona, leaving the way clear for other title holders there.
Two Japanese women managed to win two tournaments in Wels
Mayumi Kanie and Rie Koyama first won the women’s 1 doubles, before both were also victorious in the singles – Koyama in class 1 and Kanie in class 2. Claudia Hellinger from the host nation Austria also won two gold medals, in the singles in class 3 and in the doubles in class 2.
Four players won three medals
Besides Thorsten Flues, four other players won three medals in Wels, with Hiromi Ando (JPN) achieving a complete set of medals in class 3. Silke Kind came up with one gold (in mixed) and two bronze medals (in singles and doubles), while Gary Lee (ENG) had to congratulate his opponents in all three finals of class 3. Fourth in the bunch is Ilya Rozenblat, who lost in the singles and doubles finals and in the mixed semifinals to Thorsten Flues.
On the day of the finals, a good atmosphere arose several times in the Messehalle 6 in Wels when the team mates cheered loudly for their finalists or when presenter Gerald Novak asked the medal winners to stand on the podium during the award ceremony. The PPP Austria team with Irmgard Plank, Hermine Hofner and David Huber at the helm managed their PPP premiere World Cup very well, with the two German experts Michael Theis and Hilmar Heinrichmeyer actively supporting them in the tournament management. With this year’s realisation with 48 tables and five tournament days with 286 participants, standards were created that will certainly not be easily surpassed in the future.